Like the Magnets of Fate
by Skyllar Eve
Summary: Sakura makes a mistake. What happens when the war comes? Who will show her the closest thing to love and happiness in the damned world of war? Two damaged people pulled together like the magnets of fate. -SakuraxDeidara. Romance/Adventure. Rated M for Mature. [Previously Titled Hope Springs Eternal] [[under revision]]
1. Pink Sticks

**Summary:** Sakura goes through a lot of downs in her life. What happens when the war comes? Who will show her the closest thing to happiness in this damned world of war?

**A/N: **Here's my first story I'm going to be serious about. Updates _should_ stay consistent.  
Story is **romance/angst/adventure/humor**.  
Rated** M** for Mature content.  
**R&R**  
Enjoy!

**Chapter 1: Prologue: Pink Sticks**

* * *

She lay under the plain white sheets panting. Her heart was racing and her body had felt exhilarating. The covers stuck to her naked body as she looked adoringly over to her partner she had been together with for over a year. He was just staring at the ceiling, a little trickle of sweat making its way down his handsome face.

"It's over." Her face remained unfazed as it took a few seconds to register what he had said. "W-what?"

Her said lover turned his gaze in her direction, looking straight into her eyes. "It is over." He sounded out the syllables as if she were a five year old. It was then she realized what he meant. Her eyes grew big from surprise and she felt them starting to water.

"B-but…why?" She was very confused. He threw his head back letting out a laugh and looked at her again.

"You're stupid, weak and gullible." She stared at him incredulously as he continued on. "And a crybaby. Always have been. You were so annoying back in the genine days, even more now. I was kind of surprise that you actually went all the way with me. Took me fucking forever. Do you know how many times I cheated on you? Such whores they were…Oh that's right…You're on that list now, too. Oh don't give me that look. I'm just trying to be honest with you."

She jumped out of the bed, pulling the covers with her, trying to cover her body. "No, you're just being an arrogant asshole!" Grabbing her clothes, she left the room, slamming the door. When she was out of his sight, she let the blanket fall. Hands shaking, she quickly dressed herself before leaving his house. Running down the streets of Konoha, tears began to freely fall, hindering her vision. She followed the directions of the streetlights, looking for a certain apartment.

As she found the apartment she was looking for, she made her way up to the door. She raised her hand to knock, but hesitated thinking maybe it wasn't the best idea. When she finally got the courage she knocked quietly three times. When she didn't hear anything, she knocked louder three more times. She then heard a drowsy, "Yeah, yeah. I'm comin', I'm comin'."

The drowsy blonde opened the door and was shocked to see her at his door. "Sakura, what-" She interrupted his sentence by hugging him, crying into his chest. It took him a few seconds to realize what all was happening. He slowly returned her jester, hugging her tightly. Rubbing her back, he tried to soothe her. "Come inside and sit down. I'll make you some tea and we'll talk about this, okay?" She let out a dry sob, nodding her head. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders, guiding her to his kitchen table.

He went to the stove, grabbing a tea kettle, filling it with water. Scratching his head, he mumbled something about remembering where he put his tea. Bending down, he opened all of his kitchen cabinets until he found the right one. He put a teabag in the kettle and lit the burner up. Sakura could hear glasses, probably mugs, making contact with his counter. That's when he walked over to the table, grabbing some tissue on the way over. He pulled a chair next to her and set the tissue in front of her. They just sat in a comfortable silence until the kettle whistled. Within a minute, he was back beside her, two mugs in hand.

"Now…What happened?" He looked at her, deep eyes filled with sincerity and curiosity. She looked at him, not really there, recalling the previous events. Her eyes watered a little before she broke into sobs. Hugging her, she cried in the crook of his neck. He rubbed her back for comfort. "Shh, shhh. It's okay, It's okay." He repeated. Neither of them knew how long it was before she calmed down, but it had taken awhile. She sat up, wiping her face with a tissue and took a sip of her tea.

She took a deep breath before looking at Naruto and muttering his name. "Huh?" She repeated it, "Sasuke."

He looked intently at her and said, "Yeah, What about him?...Wait, what'd that bastard do to you! Is that why you're crying?" He could be so slow sometimes, but he was always there for her whenever she needed him.

Letting out a dry sob, she tried to contain her tears. "He was just u-using me. H-he told me I was weak, a-annoying, gullible a-and-" She lowered her head, tears falling once again. Feeling the heat radiate off of Naruto, she could tell he was furious. "And what." He growled. "H-he told me I was...he told me I was a...a w-whore" He slammed his fist onto the table. A little crack formed from the impact. "He took my virginity Naruto! I-" She lowered her voice. "I saved that just f-for him. A-and I waited until i-t felt right and he was just using me! H-how could he do that! W-what's wrong with me Naruto?"

Naruto stood, pulling Sakura with him and gave her a huge embrace. "I am so, so sorry Sakura. He shouldn't have done such a thing. I knew he was an asshole, but I didn't know he'd go so low to do such a terrible thing. You don't deserve that, ever. Hell, no one does and he'll get an ass whoopin' from me. Don't worry your pretty little self about that." She absolutely loved her best friend. He always knew how to cheer someone up. He kissed the top of her head, seeing as he was now taller than her considerably. The jester was in a friendly manner, almost in an elderly brother way.

"N-naruto?" She asked quietly. "Hmm?" He hummed into her hair.

"W-would you mind i-if I stayed with you? Just for a little but, I have nowhere to go. I lived with S-sasuke. You know, just until I can get a place of my own." Naruto laughed. "That's a stupid question Sakura. Of course you can stay with me. Although, there's only one bed, so we'd have to share it. I would take the couch but it's too small for either of us. That's what sucks about my small apartment." He laughed, "But you don't mind sharing a bed with me, do you?" He pulled away from the hug, his hands on her shoulders. "Don't worry, I won't try anything." He flashed his grin and winked at her kiddingly.

"Thank you Naruto, for everything." He grabbed the two, now cold, mugs of tea and emptied them into the sink. "No prob."

"Now then" He paused putting his hands on the counter, "What do you want to do? It's pretty late, so not much is open. Only bars, unless you want to get drunk off your rocker. Or we could go pick up random shit we don't need from the convenience store." She let a small smile slip. "Convenience store it is! The guy who owns it, owes me. So whatever I want I get it for free. Now go wash your face off and we'll leave in five minutes." She nodded, walking into the bathroom. Washing her face off, she dried it with a little orange hand towel.

She sat on his couch, hands proper on her knees, waiting. Naruto walked out of his room, not in his pajamas, but instead, an orange t-shirt and black pants. He put on his shoes and waved me to the door. "Let's go!"

* * *

Naruto and Sakura came back from the convenience store with five bags of shit they definitely did not need. They had gotten little candies, a couple bottles of alcohol, Chinese food, three blowup rubber balls, two water guns, and more alcohol. Okay, so Sakura needed the alcohol more than Naruto.

"What should we start off with?" Naruto asked, setting everything down.

Sakura thought for a minute. "Well…I think that we should blow up the rubber balls first, then fill the water guns up. Then we eat and then drink."

He nodded. "Sounds like a plan to me!" he grabbed three flat rubber balls and passed Sakura one. She caught it and started blowing it up. When she was done with that, she started filling her pink water gun up with its ammo. She sat it down by the sink when full and made a beeline for the Chinese food. After Naruto filled up his water gun, he joined her. Sakura shoved some sesame chicken into her mouth. _Probably wasn't the most attractive thing_. She thought. _But whatever, I'm not exactly trying to impress anyone at the moment._

Naruto chose this moment to strike up a conversation. "So, I hear Shikamaru is now head whatever of that strategic place." She laughed at his wording. "Yes, he is head whatever of that strategic place." He gave her a look. "You know what I mean!"

"Yes, I know what you mean, but if you're going to become the next Hokage, than you should start getting to know this stuff."

He huffed. "I know, I know." He shoved his food in his mouth. "It's just so boring!" He stretch out the word boring. I couldn't blame or deny him. Learning about politics, doing paper work, and knowing everything about Konoha was tiring and boring.

They quickly finished their food as Naruto grabbed the grocery bag. He pulled out the Belvedere Vodka and Jack Daniels Whiskey. He gave Sakura a devilish smile, "Wanna mix 'em and see what happens?"

_This is going to be an interesting night. _Sakura thought as she let out a nervous laugh. "Sure." She stretched it out. He pulled two shot glasses from a cabinet and filled each half and half. They clinked their glasses together and downed them at the same time. She let out a breath, making a face. "Disgusting…Give me some more."

They had drank about five shots, maybe more, they lost count. Both of them grabbed the water guns and Naruto let out a slurred, "You ready?"

She looked at him like he was crazy and yelled, "Hell yeah!" So then the war started. She giggled when he sprayed her and laughed like a maniac when she got him.

She grabbed an inflated ball and yelled, "Distraction!" It hit him right in the face. She went to spray him, only to have a little squirt to pop out. "Shit!" She ran in his kitchen grabbing the Vodka bottle, then dashed out. She took a few gulps and sat on the ground.

You could tell she was good drunk as she had started to talk like a little kid. Naruto ran at her, bouncing a ball in front of her and sprayed her with the rest of the water in his gun. She laughed and laid down. That's when she started to sing nursery songs. He laughed and lay sprawled out on the floor a few feet away from her. He quickly grabbed the Vodka from her and yelled a "Hey!" as he chugged that mother fucker down passing out the second he put the bottle down. Sakura laughed stealing the bottle back and imitated Naruto's actions. She let out and "Ahh" of appreciation.

Sakura lay on her side on the wooden floor, legs bent hugging the Vodka bottle. She fell asleep giggling.

* * *

The next morning, Sai went to Narutos house to get him for training they had scheduled for today as a team. Though Sasuke had come back from where ever the hell he had been, he'd been on probation at the moment. He wasn't allowed to leave the village and had chakra bands, to limit how much chakra he could use. Sai didn't know what to think when he opened the door to Naruto's apartment. I guess you could say he was actually shocked at the sight.

A few feet away lay Sakura. Sai walked over to her curled up body and grabbed the clear bottle she clutched so tightly. It was Vodka. Now he understood. He sighed, one hand on his hip, the other holding the bottle. He walked into the kitchen to see a Whiskey bottle too. The floor held many puddles of water from the activities Sai had no idea about yet. He was sure he did not want to know. He placed the Vodka on the table, walking back into the living room. A few feet away lay Naruto. He was sprawled out, an orange water gun could be spotted next to his body. Now Sai understood.

Sai turned as he heard clothes rustle and an unlady-like groan. He saw Sakura getting up, one hand clutching her head. "Oh, I'm going to be sick!" With that, she ran into Naruto's bathroom and started vomiting. Sai made a face at that. That's why he usually didn't drink.

Naruto started to wake up now as well. He let out a long sigh, than a big yawn and started to get up. "Ahh! What the hell are you doing in my fuckin' apartment Sai!"Naruto jumped up backing against the wall, eyes large.

"We were supposed to go train on the fields with Yamato today, idiot. It's half past noon." Sai explained, not looking at the overreacting, hyperactive blond.

He calmed down a little at his explanations, than smiled a sheepish grin, "Sorry about that...It's my fault we were late anyways."

Sai looked at him, "How much did you guys drink? And why are there water puttles and three rubber balls, one deflated?"

Naruto started to laugh. "You see, Sakura had a rough night. I went to cheer her up and we got drunk and had a water gun fight, throwing those-" He pointed at a rubber ball, "at eachother."

Sai seemed disinterested. "Well, hurry up and get ready. Yamato had postponed the training till everyone is out there."

Sakura walked out and pointed a finger at Naruto and started shouting. "Why the hell aren't you puking your brains out!"

He laughed, "I've never thrown up from alcohol. You see, I can keep mine down." Sakura whatevered him and walked into the kitchen, making herself some tea.

She heard the front door open and then close. Then Naruto's voice. "Sai says that we have a training session-thingy-majigger today with Yamato and that we're late. He told me that Yamato is postponing it until we get there."

Sakura looked away, a frowning forming on her face. "What's wrong?" He asked.

"I'm not going." Sakura replied back, in a hushed tone.

"And why not?"

She looked at him, motioned her hands to her body, "I don't have any clothing, they're all at-" She stopped, making a face, not having any intention of finishing her sentence. Naruto understood.

"I'll get them for you later today. And I have some...stuff to take care of anyways. Just chill out here and I'll be back later. I'll explain as much as I can to Yamato with trying to not say too much. Kay? And feel free, if you get hungry, you can go out and buy some food. There's money in my drawer in the bedroom, or you can just have some ramen that's in the kitchen."

She nodded turning her gaze away from him. Naruto walked into his bathroom and she heard the shower water come on. After he leaves, she'd probably take a shower. Then go and look for a new place to live. She didn't want to burden Naruto.

Minutes passed as she just sat there. Mind completely blank. The only thing she was feeling was the soreness around her womanly part. The tea had eased her hangover. Sitting on the stool in the kitchen with her hands in her lap she saw a body in front of her. Looking up she saw Naruto with a towel around his neck.

"Sakura..." He said it so sadly she had to think. What was wrong with him? Why was he sad. And that's when she realized she had been crying. She lifted her hands up to her face, quickly wiping the tears away.

"I'm sorry Naruto, I didn't even realize i was crying. I'm fine don't worry." He gave her a sympathetic look and went to go put the towel up.

"I'm leaving Sakura, I'll see you later!" She yelled a goodbye and she heard the front door shut. She was now alone.

She got up, slowly walking to the bathroom. She hoped that he wouldn't mind her using his shampoo.

Sakura quickly stripped of her clothing and turned the water on as hot as it would go. Hopefully, it would ease the soreness of her activities of the previous night. Silently, she started to cry. Nobody was home and she was just alone to weep and let it all out. She began to let out loud sobs, clutching her chest to ease her breathing as it had become fast and erratic. Her tears mixed with the water that splat on her body. She noticed that bruises had started to form a nasty deep purple, surrounded by yellow. They were on her thighs, hips, and arms. There were bite marks on her breasts from where Sasuke had licked, sucked, then bit. Pretty hard too. She had just than realize how rough he had been with her. How hard he grabbed her. Just then, she had realized the whole time, it was a one-sided relationship. He had never loved her. Even if he had said it. When ever her did, it was probably just all part of his plan to screw her and when he finally met his goal, he ended it. She had dreamed since she was a little kid to marry him, have kids with him, and grow gray-haired with him. _That's what they call fantasies, huh?_ She thought.

Sakura walked out of the bathroom in the same clothes she wore yesterday. She wondered if Naruto would mind if she borrowed a shirt or something? Walking into his room, she opened up his dresser drawer. She found a black shirt that was just a tad big for her, not a problem though. Figuring his pants would be way to big for her, she kept on her pair of shorts that went just above mid-thigh. Taking off her shirt, she slid his on, rolling the bottom up twice, then tying it with a rubber band. She slid her shoes on and went to look at herself in the mirror. Her eyes were a bit red and puffy. Ruffling her damp hair, she walked out the door.

* * *

She walked around Konoha without a particular destination in mind. A frown held its place on her face.

She came up to a realty building and decided to go in to check out open places she could afford. A quite annoying lady came up to her talking about homes and properties. She opened up a little binder that showed open housings with all of their information. Each paper had a protector over them. She flipped through all of them until she came to a nice looking place. It wasn't far from all of her friends and her work at the hospital. It wasn't particularly cheap, but not all that expensive either. It was a one bath(master bath at that), one bedroom home. It had a nice living room and an alright kitchen. It was five-hundred dollars per month. With her salary, she considered it. She could make it work. Sakura called the lady over and pointed to the house she wanted. She nodded and told her she'd get the paper work and how she'd have to make a bunch of connections.

Sakura sat there signing and filling out papers papers and reading through agreements. She then left, the lady whose name she chose to not remember told her she'd let her know when everything was set and done for her to finally move in.

Afterwards, she went out to go get something to eat. Not particularly hungry, but she knew she needed something on her stomach. Walking around, she decided to eat at a dumpling restaurant. They were good, but pricey. After getting her fill, she decided to go visit Ino at her flower shop. She was going to pay a visit to the K.I.A. shrine and pay her respects since she was feeling rather depressing today.

She faked a smile and happiness so Ino wouldn't worry. She didn't seem to notice Sakura's facade. Letting out a sigh, she began to walk towards her destination, flowers in hand.

* * *

When she'd gotten home, she saw her stuff on the couch in the living room and heard ruffling around in the kitchen. She walked to the kitchen to see Naruto beginning to eat his noodles. He had a busted lip and a wrap around his wrist.

She gasped and made her way to him. "What on earth happened Naruto?"

He looked at her with a weird look. "I told ya, I had some _things _to take care of"

She just now figured out what he was talking about. "You fought Sasuke?" He 'mhmmed' with noodles in his mouth.

"Who won..."

He looked at her with a big grin, thumb pointing towards himself. "Me of course!"

She shook her head. "Let me heal you up. It's the least I can do." He disagreed, saying he was fine, but in the end she was healing him anyways. He had two broken ribs, a twisted wrist, and a few bruises here and there. Nothing that couldn't be fixed.

"Hey, Sakura?" She 'hmmed' will healing his wrist. "Where'd you get those bruises on your arms..." his voice was serious.

"Oh...just from training the other day with Lee I guess...We worked on my tai-jutsu." She lied smoothly. Well, it wasn't a lie completely. She did train with Lee the other day...It's just that he wasn't the cause of the bruises.

"You're lying aren't you? It's easy to tell when you're lying Sakura. For me anyways."

She looked down."Yes I am."

He looked away than back at her. "How did he do that to you?" she shrugged. "It was during-when we were-" he put his hand on her shoulder to tell her to stop talking, before she started to get upset again.

He quickly changed the subject, thanking her for healing him."By the way, I got all of your stuff." She thanked him.

"I went by a real estate today. I signed papers for this one apartment, and they told me that they'd let me know when it's ready for me to move into."

He smiled, "Really? That's great. When it's ready, I'll help you take your stuff over." She smiled back. How the hell was she so lucky to have a friend like Naruto.

* * *

It had been about three weeks since she'd seen the real estate agent, and they still hadn't contacted her. She had been eager to move into her new apartment and to not be a burden to Naruto anymore. Many people had asked her about the bruises on her, and she would just say that it was from training. She had seen Sasuke three days after Naruto and him had a little _talk. _He looked like shit.

This morning though, she woke up next to Naruto in bed, jumped over his body, accidentally hitting him in her rush and running into his bathroom. She got on her knees next to the toilet and began vomiting. Naruto walked in and asked her what was wrong. He held her hair back for her, patting her back until she had stopped. She wipped her mouth, and sat back against the wall. She went to rub her throat when she accidently hit her breast harder than she thought she did. _Oh god. No, no, no._ She thought. She poked her breast and Naruto gave her a weird look. It was sensitive.

"Naruto...What's today's date..." her voice was questioning.

"Uh, It's the fourteenth I think." One week after her period she was _supposed_ to have had.

"_Fuck_."

"What's wrong Sakura?" he sounded concerned.

"Uhm...Naruto, I'm going out real quick. I'll be back in a few." She quickly got up and ran out of the house. She went to a convenience store, not caring she was still in her pj's and walked to the pharmacy section. Looking around, she found what she was looking for. A pregnancy test. She grabbed three and paid the cashier over the amount due, quickly walking out. Making her way to Naruto's house, she quickly walked in and made a bee line to the bathroom. She peed on each little stick and waited.

As she sat in the bathroom, her heart beat quick. Time seemed to go as slow as it possibly could.

After waiting the amount of time it said on the label, she lay each stick next to each other.

Positive.

Positive.

Positive.

Her eyes were wide with shock.

She was pregnant.

* * *

_Love is something eternal; the aspect may change, but not the essence._

_-Vincent Van Gogh _

**A/N: **I hope you enjoyed chapter one. I have to thank my beta reader iluvtornado3, how great they are!  
If you have any questions, don't refrain from asking. Constructive criticism is welcome too.

**Review :)**


	2. First Missions Never Go So Well

**A/N: Guess who's in this chapter ;)**

_Her eyes were wide with shock. She was pregnant._

**Chapter Two: First Missions Never Go So Well**

**

* * *

**Sakura sat there in the bathroom, back against the wall. She held a pregnancy test in her hand and just stared. This _had _to be a dream. She pinched her arm for the seventh time now, leaving little red pinch marks. Obviously, it was not a dream. _Maybe I'm hallucinating? _She questioned herself. If she was, she'd be seeing pink elephants, so she crossed that out. _We used protection! _She thought. It probably broke. She hadn't felt him come inside her, so she didn't know what to think.

_Maybe they were wrong? _God she hoped so, but three false positives were kind of pushing it. Sakura was sure that they were right, but wanted to deny it. There was no way in hell that she could be having his kid.

She looked at all of the pregnancy signs she had been having. Number one, sore breasts. They had gotten slightly bigger. Okay, not exactly slightly, but to the point where her nipples continued to try to escape her bra. Two, she had missed her period. She had _never _missed a period. It came the exact time every month. Three, she started to feel very tired. _If I am pregnant…that would be from the raised progesterone. Or I could just be wearing myself out with everything at the hospital. _She countered herself. Four, she had been slightly more moody. Like the other day, she went off on a patient who had a sprained ankle. He was crying like a baby and he was like, what, twenty something? Now that she'd thought about it, she kind of felt bad, but you shouldn't cry about something like that. And then, the most recent symptom she had, number five, morning sickness.

Right then the door to the bathroom flew open with Naruto chanting, "Gottah pee, Gottah pee!" He stopped in his tracks when he'd seen Sakura sitting, back against the wall, knees to her chest, holding a little tab thing.

"I'm sorry Sakura! Don't hit me! I didn't know you where in here, honest!"

She nodded, "It's okay Naruto." He was about to walk out before she changed her mind till he saw what was in her hand.

"Sakura…what's that?" She looked up at him and raised her hand that had the stick of pee and said

"Oh this? It's nothing, don't worry." He nodded and quickly walked out before she changed her mind. She put a hand on her stomach, rubbed it, and left it there.

She'd thought about abortion. She hated it, thought it was absolutely horrible, but now that she was in the situation, she understood. Sakura sat there and decided that she'd keep it until she was absolutely sure about keeping it or not. She absolutely would not tell anyone unless she was keeping it. This means definitely no more alcohol till then, or not, depending on her decision. Suddenly, she got scared. She had been drinking this past three weeks. Would this affect the baby? What if it has birth defects? Will it come out okay? She began to ask herself all of these questions, but then asked herself another one. Why do I care? It's _Sasuke's _child. He probably doesn't even want to deal with a kid and when the kid was born, it would ask why it didn't have a father. She began to cry silently, for some reason she couldn't even find.

She was scared about having a kid. Getting up, she picked up the pregnancy tests, wrapped them in tissue and threw them in the trash. Washing her face, she walked into the living room to find an ANBU member standing in the living room. Their mask was a bird, at the look of it.

"Sakura, I have been requested to tell you to go to Hokage-sama's office, right now." It was a woman.

She stared. "What for?"

The ANBU member cleared their throat as Naruto walked in, "She told me not to say anything as of now, and she wants to tell you herself." With that, she disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

"Wonder what that was about" Naruto asked.

"I'll be back in a few, Naruto, I have to report to Tsunade-sama's office." He 'mmm'ed' and she left. It was around one o' clock, she guessed. _Why would she send an ANBU for me?_

On Sakura's walk there, she'd seen a pregnant lady. She looked around seven months pregnant. Her hand was being held by another, by who appeared to be her husband. A pang of jealousy rose. Why couldn't that be her?

When she got to the tower, she took her time climbing up the stairs. She made slow loud knocks on her door.

"Come in!" She did as said. "Tsunade-sama" She bowed.

"Sakura! Stop that. Now, come up here." She walked up to Tsunade's desk. "I have a question for you." Her voice was dark.

"Y-yes?" She laughed, "Don't be so easily intimidated!" Sakura could tell she had already started drinking.

"Okay, onto the question…What would you say…if I ask you to join ANBU?" Her eyes widened. _Is she asking me to join ANBU? _"Hey! I asked a question."

She blinked. "I-I would say yes!"

"Well, you're in! Congratulations! Come on, let's have a drink!" She shook her head at the women.

"No thanks Tsunade-sama, I still have many things to do today. Thank you so much!" She ran over to the women and hugged her.

"The official ceremony will be in two months Sakura, be ready. And here's a scroll, it tells you when and where it is at, what will happen, yada yada." She nodded, walking out with a little skip in her step. As Sakura walked out, Tsunade was smiling, but she got this weird feeling. She had seen a different source of chakra in Sakura. Like…what happens when women get pregnant. Tsunade shook it off, thinking it was just the alcohol playing tricks on her again.

* * *

Sakura was happy. ANBU was not something you just easily made. Fiddling with the scroll, she had her hand unconsciously on her stomach as she walked down the street. That's when she bumped into someone, knocking herself back, but catching herself back on balance before falling.

"Excuse me, I wasn't looking-" She stopped when she saw who it was. Staring at the persons eyes briefly, she became mad. Extremely mad.

An ugly frown formed upon her features and that's when he asked, "Miss me?" with that fucking smug smirk of his.

She thought about what she was going to do for a second. Summoning her chakra to her right hand, she raised her hand as if to scratch her head, and then punch him before he could even react. He went flying, busting into a few wooden fences before he stopped. "Who the hell would miss you, asshole." She felt her pregnancy rage fuming through her blood along with her hot headed self. A pregnant Sakura was not a good thing.

She walked off, raging. Many people moved out of her way on the streets seeing as she looked as if she would rip your head off. Walking into Naruto's apartment, she sat down on the couch and threw her head back. Boy, she wished she could chug down some alcohol.

By the time Naruto came home it was around seven. "Hey Sakura!" he greeted, walking through his door.

"I was just looking for you. You ready to go and train with team seven?" he saw her pissed off look. "Whas wrong Sakura?" Leaving off the t in 'what's'.

She looked at him. "Oh nothing, actually, I feel kind of good." She wickedly smirked at him and he shivered. "I punched Sasuke in the face today. Pretty sure I broke his nose and busted his lip." She laughed.

Naruto got a weird feeling. She jumped off the couch, "Naruto! Oh my gosh! I got promoted to ANBU today!" Naruto's eyes widened at the sudden change of moods, but seeing how this was probably a good day for her, he was happy. "That's great Sakura! After training, we'll celebrate!"

"Oh, uh… Naruto, I'm not going to be drinking anymore- Hey! Don't give me that look, it's just for a little while. I'm trying out something new right now, okay?"

He gave her a weird look. "Well, we'll go out to eat, team seven. Including Yamato and Kakashi-sensei!" she smiled, thinking that was a good idea.

"Sounds great!" He hugged her. "Now, let's go! We got to go training" he urged.

"Yeah." She said, putting on her ninja boots.

* * *

When they got to the training ground, Sai and Yamato were already there.

"Hey guys!" Naruto yelled. "Guess what happened today!" A muffled _huh_ was heard from Yamato, as he was drinking some water.

"Sakura's part of ANBU now!" Yamato spit out the water he was drinking in surprise. Sakura held a shy blush on her face.

"Good job, Ugly." Sai remarked. She punched him in the arm, enough for him to wince.

Yamato patted her head, "Great job kiddo! Now, let's test those ANBU skills out! It will be Sai against Sakura and Myself against Naruto. Sai, go full out on Sakura, and Sakura, don't hold back. Rules: You can't use anything but your body and chakra. No kunai, scrolls, nothing. Just fists and legs." Everyone nodded.

There was Sakura and Sai, large strides apart, waiting for Yamato to let them start.

"Ready…Set…GO!"

Sai dashed to his right and jumped up, throwing his left leg up to kick her side. Sakura lifted her left arm and blocked it, grabbing his leg with her right hand. She pulled his leg, taking his body with it, and throwing him into a tree. He twisted his body to where his feet landed on the tree and pushed himself off going at her. She punched the ground with a chakra coated hand, breaking the ground like an earth quake. He jumped into the air and she jumped back considerably, but still, he landed right behind her. He landed a hit on her left bicep. She winced from the hard hit.

The fight went on for awhile like this until she went to punch him in which he blocked and went to hit her in her open area. Her stomach. She saw this last second and yelped, bringing her leg up in a way she didn't know was possible. She kicked his abdomen with chakra gathered in her foot getting a direct hit. He grunted in pain. She felt way too protective and there wasn't even the cute little baby bump yet.

Rage engulfed her as she went after him. Quickly, he got up, disappearing. She looked around and caught him in her right peripheral vision. She threw her arm out to hit him, but he grabbed it swiftly and pinning it behind her back. She twisted her arm back around and threw her leg around meaning to trip him, but missed. He tried a direct frontal attack in which Sakura dodged and disappeared behind him, grabbing both of his arms as she had her foot on his back. She had him on the ground, and if she just yanked back-

"Good job Sakura! Tsunade definitely did not mistake putting you into ANBU. You've improved greatly!" Yamato clapped.

"Now it's mine and Naruto's turn. You ready?" He looked over at Naruto.

"Duh" he said.

"There's some water in that bag over there. Drink up." Yamato told waving his hand in the direction.

Sakura let go of Sai and walked over to the tree trunks taking a seat. Wiping the sweat off her forehead she grabbed a bottle of water drinking over half. Sai sat on the stump next to her, grabbing a water for himself. They both watched the fight until Sai decided to interact.

"You did…good." She looked over at him, and smiled. "Thanks, you did too."

A few minutes passed as the fight between Naruto and Yamato seemed consistent in this; kick, block, punch, block, jump, run, kick, block, and so on.

"You seemed a bit…off. When I tried to hit your stomach. Is something wrong ugly?" He put on a fake smile. Her heart skipped a beat. _He doesn't think or know that you're pregnant Sakura, he's just wondering._ Sakura told herself.

"Oh, nothing at all. I just got sick this morning and I didn't want to puke all over you, you know?" He didn't respond.

Yamato and Naruto's fight ended as it came to a draw, both panting and sweaty. Naruto grinned, "Now let's go get Kakashi and head to Ichiraku and get some food!"

* * *

It had been around ten when they made it to Ichiraku with everyone and Kakashi. When Kakashi had learned about Sakura's ANBU status, he practically had the same response as Yamato did, accept his words were _I'm proud of you!_ Which made Sakura bust into a wide grin. Kakashi had become like a father figure, after hers had been KIA, as Tsunade was her mother figure.

They all sat on the stools, eating and happily chatting. Sakura's hand kept lingering on her stomach until she would catch herself. She would reprimand herself, saying that would make it obvious. All of a sudden, a wave of nausea came over her. She jumped up, running out of Ichiraku and puked her brains out by the side of the restaurant. Naruto walked out and asked if she was okay. She had let him know that she'd be back in a few minutes. He nodded and walked back into Ichiraku. Damn _morning_ sickness.

When she had returned, Sai had already left and everyone was already done. Besides Naruto of course.

"So Sakura, you excited?" Kakashi asked.

She nodded, "Very! I didn't know I could ever make that status."

He nodded, a little eye crinkle apparent. "Well, I'm not surprised one bit. You've raised yourself up over the years and have done a great job." Smiling, she thanked him. After everything was said and done, everyone started to head to their own homes.

It had been a long and exhausting day for Sakura. After her and Naruto had taken a shower, they both lay in his bed. "Hey Naruto?"

"Hmmm…?" he sighed.

"I'm sorry I've been here for way too long, I'll be-" she was interrupted, "Sakura, you're fine. Don't worry about it, really. I don't mind."

Quietly, she smiled. "Thank you" She guessed he had already fallen asleep as he did not answer her. She had been thinking to herself that night and she decided. She decided that she was going to keep the child.

The next day, she looked into the scroll. It showed which building the ceremony would be held. She would get a tattoo on her right arm, signifying that she was a girl. It was a swirl with a curve beside the swirly part, the original ANBU mark. It was less than thirty days away. She was excited. She got to learn how to wield a katana, something she'd always wanted to learn.

The day passed by fast. After training, she and Naruto headed home. Tonight, she decided she was going to tell Naruto that she was pregnant.

When they made it home, Naruto made some ramen for them. They sat at his table, and she spoke up.

"Hey Naruto. I can tell you anything, right?" he made a face, "Of course you can!" she barely understood what he said as he had noodles in his mouth.

"Well, you can't tell anyone, okay?" The baby bump would start to show within the next two months or so. It would barely be even noticeable, but it would have that tiny curve. He nodded. He was paying attention now, focusing only on her.

"I'm pregnant" She decided not to beat around the bush. With that, Naruto fell to the ground unconscious.

She panicked. "Naruto! Are you okay? Naruto, Wake up…Wake up!" She lightly slapped his face.

"Woah, Sakura. I just had a totally weird dream! Me and you were eating ramen and you told me you were pregnant!"

She frowned. "That wasn't a dream Naruto" He fainted again. She sighed. When he was awake she had him back in the chair and she explained. He had gotten angry but she told him not to. It was her fault too after all.

"It's not _your _fault Sakura, don't even put any bit of blame on yourself." A sudden wave a tears came upon her. Naruto soothed her and she had told him it was just the hormones.

**

* * *

One Month Later**

Just about every day she trained. Only Naruto knew about her pregnancy, so when they would spar, he would go easy. This would piss her off. She had finally moved into her apartment, with the help of Naruto thankfully. She read and memorized the rules of ANBU black ops. Cringing at one of them, she read it, if she were to be mortally wounded, she was to destroy herself to keep information from getting into the wrong hands. She really did _not _want to get into that predicament.

Sakura was a week away from being two months pregnant. She figured that she would go ahead and start buying maternity clothing, needing to go out for some fresh air anyways. Naruto was at her apartment, helping her repaint it.

"Hey Naruto? Want to go out shopping with me?" He made a face until she was halfway through making a deal. "I'll buy you some ramen-" he interrupted "Let's go!"

She laughed. Today, she had been craving some ramen. Ramen and Shrimp…and chicken…and cherry pie. Hell, she was hungry for everything, just as long as it smelt good to her. She and Naruto went to a random shop that no one knew about, so word wouldn't get out. She had bought a lot of different sized clothes for the different sizes she would turn.

Afterwards she treated him to ramen. She was so hungry, she hadn't eaten since yesterday afternoon.

On her third bowl, Naruto looked at her. "I think this is as much as I've ever seen you eat. _Ever_."

She looked at him with noodles sticking out of her mouth. "I'm feeding two people here Naruto."

He laughed, "True, true."

* * *

The day of the ceremony, she had been eleven weeks pregnant. The only sign showing was a little unnoticeable baby bump. She had to say, she was growing attached to the little thing.

At the ceremony she had to undergo many questions and promise that she would follow all of the rules and stuff of the sort. She'd gotten the standard ANBU tattoo by a weird jutsu and she thought it was cool as shit. Her official ANBU mask was of a wolf. She received the standard ANBU attire and was given a plain small katana.

The process of the ceremony took quite awhile and she began to grow tired. Most of the people down here, if they didn't have their masks on, looked _so _serious. Tsunade was there too, and she was just smiling her ass off, like the black sheep of the group in here.

Sakura was glad to be home. It had been a long and very, very tiring day. The ceremony had taken a lot out of her. She had to keep turning Tsunade down from drinking alcohol, but then she would just offer some again until Shizune told her she had some paper work to take care of. She mouthed a 'thanks' to her and she just winked knowingly. What that woman had to endure with Tsunade, she kind of felt bad.

She plopped onto her bed, fresh from taking a shower. Looking down at her belly, she rubbed it than started to talk to it.

"What should I name you little one? I wonder if you're a boy or girl…hmm." She laid her head back down and slowly fell asleep thinking about her baby that would be here in a few months.

**

* * *

Twelve weeks pregnant.**_ Baby bump starting to show._

Sakura's first ANBU mission was today. It was to find out what all the mess was with Akatsuki around the fire boarders. There had been only one sighted.

This was a solo mission and she was pretty nervous. She had thought that on her first mission it would have been with a squad or something. Tsunade said she had faith in her since she had already defeated an Akatsuki member before, and she had excelled since then. This was supposedly to test out her skills. If the fight were to get out of her league, she was to escape. As she was traveling, her thoughts began to wonder. She was just about into her second trimester. Her morning sickness had stopped, along with her soar breasts and boy was she happy about it. The only thing that had been bothering her is a constant pain in her lower back. She figured she'd just pulled something.

What she was ecstatic about though, was earlier the week she learned how to use the katana properly from one of the ANBU captains. What made her happier is even Kakashi had a one on one spar with her, teaching her techniques to use through the sword. It was fun.

And here she was now, jumping off and on branches towards her destination. She had been running for over an hour or so, so it wouldn't be long till she would see the said Akatsuki.

When she'd come to a clearing, she stopped just before the tree line, looking for a trap. Instead, there was a blonde sitting on the ground, criss cross apple sauce. It kind of looked like a girl, but the body type was masculine. He was facing the opposite direction from her. Their hair looked complicated. Half was up, and sort of spiky, while the other half lay flatly on his neck. This person didn't look like they were a part of the Akatsuki. They were missing the robe, but he looked familiar, even if it was from behind.

Making sure her chakra was masked, she began to approach him as quietly as possible.

"I know you're there, yeah." She froze.

That impediment she recognized from somewhere. She just couldn't seem to put her finger on it. "Yeah? What about it?"

He started to stand, "You're here to take care of me, right?" He started to dust himself off, not facing her yet.

"I guess so." She replied, nonchalantly. His hands rested on his hips, sliding into his pockets. Then, he chose to face her. She recognized that face! He was the one sitting on Gaara when they were going to extract his bijuu. She clenched her hands.

"Hey, that's a pretty wicked mask you got there, yeah."

Venom in her voice, she replied a simple "_Thanks._" He then mumbled something which she made out as "Wonder what's under it"

She tried to keep her rage from clouding her judgment. "What are you doing here on fire territory?" He smiled, it was a crooked smiled. Her heart fluttered as she slightly blushed under her mask. She tried to refrain any thoughts from entering her head. "You know, just stuff, here and there, yeah."

She rolled her eyes, not that he could see them. "Care to elaborate?"

He shifted his stance and she tensed. "Not really."

She could tell he was the arrogant type. "Well…I need to take you back with me. Dead or alive. I would prefer alive. You know, no dead weight. But…it's your choice. So choose."

He thought for a second. "Well, how about I not go with you and still stay alive, yeah. That sounds good to me." Her eye twitched.

He was a smart ass alright. She quickly grabbed a kunai from her pouch and threw it at him. He caught it swiftly and threw it back.

Stepping aside, she dodged it. "That all you got?" He asked.

She smirked, "You want to find out?"

He laughed an attractive laugh, "Guess I do, yeah."

She went at him, adrenaline flowing through her veins. Gathering chakra in her right hand, she when to punch him. He swiftly moved, grabbing her wrist and throwing her over his shoulders. She landed on her feet just barely.

"Close range's not really my style, yeah. But I only have a little clay left, so I guess it can't be helped." He frowned. She took this opportunity of his rambling to try to trip him but he jumped up, evading it. His feet landed on her shoulders and jumped into a back flip, making her fall back.

He went at her quickly as she landed on the ground, she covered her stomach and vital organs when it looked like he was about to hit her, but instead he stopped. He pulled her mask off. Wide eyed, she looked at him.

"Heh, you're pretty cute if I say so myself, but you remind me of someone, yeah." Her eyes narrowed. She did not like being this close to the enemy.

"I killed your partner Sasori." His eyes widened, dropping the mask he jumped back. "That was _you?_" He sounded extremely surprised. "Shit. I thought I recognized that pink hair from somewhere. Wait…You're in ANBU, yeah? Damn, I really underestimated you."

She smiled, "Bad move." She ran up to him and punched him in the face with a chakra laced hand. Hearing his jaw crack and seeing him fly a good distance made her smile in satisfactory. He yelled out a profanity. She then saw him do a hand sign, late to realize that there was a white spider crawling towards her.

"Shit!" She jumped back when she heard, "_Katsu!"_ The blast sent her flying.

She tried to gain control mid-air but failed and crashed into a tree, hitting her head severely. Her arms covered her stomach in protection of her unborn child. Sakura's vision went black for a few seconds before she could see again, her head felt very dizzy. She felt warm liquid flow down her neck as she realized her head was bleeding. She lifted a hand, healing the wound enough to make it stop bleeding. Managing a sitting position against the tree, she looked in the Akatsuki's direction.

"Deidara-Sempai! We gotta go! Come on!" She heard an unfamiliar voice yell.

She turned and saw a masked man in an Akatsuki robe waving at who she now remembers as Deidara. _So much for one Akatsuki member. _She thought.

Her leg had twisted in a way that shouldn't be possible. She sat on the ground and watched him approach her. She laughed sarcastically, "Sempai? Looks like he likes you! 'Deidara-Sempai' " She mimicked, pissed for making her fly into a tree.

Deidara made a face at that, rolling his eyes. He was now only a foot away from her and bent down, face entering her personal bubble. "I hope I meet your cute self again, yeah. Then, maybe we can finish up this fight. But for now, I leave you with this" He grabbed the collar of her shirt and kissed her.

He was _kissing_ her. An Akatsuki member nonetheless. It took her a couple of seconds to retaliate. She'd closed her eyes and melted into his soft lips. It felt like it lasted forever until he pulled back. "I was mad about you killing Sasori for awhile, but now I'm kind of glad, and I thank you for that, yeah. I hope to meet you again someday. So until then," He stood up, and turned around. A tiny clay bird of his expanded into a huge one, himself and his partner jumped on it and she watched them fly away.

She sat in awe. _Did that really just happen? _She put two fingers on her lips and blushed. _Wow._ She thought.

Snapping out of her daze, she got pissed.

"What the fuck!" She yelled into the sky, sure he heard her as she watched them fly away.

She could have sworn she heard his laugh in the wind.

Angrily, she began to heal her leg, wincing as she twisted it back into place.

She stretched it out, dryly saying, "Good as new." Walking over to her mask she picked it up and put it back on, heart still racing.

She told herself that it was the adrenalin and anger.

* * *

It had been around an hour that she had been traveling. She was rushing home until she began to get an enormous pain around her lower region. Immediately stopping, she hunched over grabbing her stomach. She had cried out in pain and looked at her thighs, there was blood. He eyes got big as saucers. This could _not _be happening.

She tried to ignore the pains as she began to head home, as fast as she could.

As she arrived at the gates, the guards panicked. They had called for help and she found herself being rushed to the hospital, getting excruciating pains that would come and go.

In the hospital, they found out about her pregnancy and asked her questions like, "Where does it hurt"

She spat back. "Where the fuck does it look like it hurts!"

The lady looked almost afraid, but continued her questioning. "H-Have you been having any cramps? Any mild bleeding?"

She thought for a minute. "My lower back has been hurting for awhile." The nurse wrote that down.

"Well, when did your pregnancy symptoms subside? Like morning sickness, sore breasts, peeing frequently."

"They went away very recently, within this-" She groaned as a sharp pain violated her lower area. "Past week." She finished.

After all the questions Tsunade had rushed down to her hospital room and began to take care of her.

"I knew you were pregnant! That's why you wouldn't drink anymore…How far along are you?"

She had to think, "Twelve weeks I think."

Tsunade place a hand on her stomach. Sakura watched as it glowed green, chakra slightly tingling her stomach.

"Sakura, what I am about to tell you might scare you, but I am sure you're having a miscarriage. This could have been caused by anything, stress, alcohol, the baby not growing normally, and well, you know. When you are around your second trimester and you are having a miscarriage, you bleed a lot and get pains that feel as if you're giving labor. You will feel like you're having contractions that should be five to twenty minutes within eachother." She took a long breath.

" With your symptoms, you are probably having an Inevitable or Incomplete miscarriage. There is a slight dilation of your cervix and a slight rupture of your membranes. If this does not complete than the bleeding and cramps will persist. We will give it a few days to let it take its course and then we will do a D&C to make sure all of the tissue has been removed to prevent infection. We will give you some pain medication for the cramps and if you lose too much blood, we will have to have a blood transfusion. You'll be okay, don't worry."

Tsunade squeezed her Sakura's hand that she held within her own. Sakura was having a hard time taking this all in. She became numb and started to cry. Even if she didn't want the damn thing at first, she had become attached to it. It had grown on her and she was ready to become a mother. Hell, she talked to it!

Tsunade hugged her and patted her back trying to soothe her sobs. Just when things had begun to get better, they had taken a turn for the worst. She hated Sasuke for this. He had played tricks on her for over a year, taken her virginity, impregnated her and now it was all gone. He had given her the false hope of giving birth to a child. She blamed him for all of this. Everything was perfect until he had come back to Konoha. Everything _seemed _perfect when they were together and then everything went downhill when she was stupid enough to give up her virginity to him.

She fell asleep crying in Tsunade's arms.

* * *

**The Next Morning**

Sakura couldn't wake up. She felt herself in the bed, just laying there not being able to move. Somebody's hand was holding hers and they were talking to her. Crying it sounded.

"Sakura, please wake up. Wake up Sakura." It didn't quite register to her who was saying this. But she could hear it as if they were all the way down a hallway, talking too quietly for the distance.

She tried talking and heard the stranger stop all of its noises. As much as she tried, all she could get out were struggled noises. She felt tears stream down her face.

Opening her eyes, she couldn't recognize the person next to her, holding her hand. It was as if they were there, but just an allusion. More struggled noises came out of her throat as she tried to talk again.

She was scared as her eyes closed again. Surrounded by nothing by darkness was terrible. It was like a nightmare where she had never opened her eyes in the first place.

She heard the sobs again.

* * *

**Later That day**

Sakura heard another voice. It was different from before. The hand was different then before and if she'd known better, she'd say it was a female's hand. She tried to squeeze whoever's hand it was because she felt bad for them.

They were crying too. Sakura could feel her arm was wet and hair lay on her bicep. She made no attempt in trying to talk, but she tried opening her eyes to get away from the darkness.

When she had opened her eyes, all she did see was darkness. She was scared and began to feel tears falling down her own face.

"Nurse, Is she crying!" She heard the voice that was just talking to her.

"That's just the natural watering of the eyes, don't worry about it."

The Following Day

She heard a lot of voices in the room. Clinks of metal, snaps of elastic, random noises.

Feeling a sharp prick in her arm, she wanted to say "Ow" or "What the hell was that for?" but she couldn't find herself to.

It was still all black.

Soon enough, she wasn't able to feel anything. Not when the doctor opened her legs to do a D&C, not when he accidently cut her thigh, not when her legs were closed back again.

**

* * *

One Day After the Operation**

The only thing Sakura had seen since she'd taken her sleep was _him._ It was a nightmare. He was there, mocking her.

He kept repeating everything he said on that night over three months ago. It kept repeating on his lips as she stared at him in the darkness. Everything was black besides him.

His red eyes penetrated her faded green ones. She had begun to see illusions she thought to be real. She wanted to cry out, to scream as loud as she could, but couldn't. It was like her body was paralyzed.

Her eyes weren't able to close from the scene. He had raised his sword and began to slowly slide it down her abdomen, trailing down to her pelvic area. Keeping the sword still, she watched the blood slide down her side. Twisting the sword, the sharp tip dug into her skin.

She felt every cut and twist of his sword. His red eyes stared at her, an evil smirk plastered on his face. Jerking his arm forward, it pierced through her organs and she tried to scream out.

Sliding his sword out of her body, he looked at it. Blood dripped off, falling onto the black floor. She could feel tears running down her face as she was being tortured.

The nightmares had continued off and on during her coma for the last two months. Each time she cried and from what everyone could see, she would start coughing.

In her nightmares, that's when she would begin to cough up blood. It's when Sasuke would look at her with his blood red eyes and tell her she was useless.

It's when she felt the most like dying.

* * *

**Two months later**

Sakura awoke in a hospital bed. Her back ached like she had slept for ages. To her left, she saw Naruto in a chair with his head resting on the edge of her bed and Sai in the corner of the room. Why was she in the hospital? She then recalled about last events before she fell asleep. A frown came upon her face as she felt crying. Naruto stirred in his sleep. Then one eye opened following the other. They both went wide. "Sakura! I'm so glad you're alive! I was so scared you weren't going to wake up!" He jumped out of his seat to hug her.

"Naruto, I've only been asleep for a day" Her throat was sore from misuse.

"No! You went into a coma for over two months Sakura! Grandma Tsunade said you went into a coma from head trauma. Everyone has visited you!" She looked to her right, to see a table full of flowers. "In fact, Ino just left this morning."

Memories went flying through her eyes. Her eyes widened as she broke down. "I was so scared Naruto. All I could see was darkness and I had nightmares." She held her face in her hands. "I remember people talking to me. I remember holding people's hands and wondering why it sounded like they were crying." She explained everything from her coma. She remember Naruto, Ino, Hinata, Kakashi, Tsunade, and so on that talked to her. It was several minutes before Naruto could get her to calm down.

Sai walked over to the bed, pulling up a chair. "Are you feeling alright? Physically?"

She nodded at Sai. "So now everyone knows about my-uh" She had to think for the term. "Miscarriage use to be pregnancy?" he nodded. She really didn't want to be around anyone right now, but was afraid of being alone. She laid back down. "I'll go get Grandma Tsunade!" Naruto ran out the room.

She saw Sai beginning to leave before she shouted at him. "Please don't go Sai!" What s he could tell as curiosity on his face, she continued. "I've been in the darkness for two months. I don't want to be alone." His face showed different than his usual apathetic look. Walking back to the bed, he sat back down.

Sakura stared blankly at the ceiling, hand on her now flat stomach. _Two months?_ She thought. She was beyond depressed. Did this mean that Sasuke knows about everything?

It's not like it mattered anyways. He would have found out sooner or later since she was keeping the child.

The door busted in with a near running Tsunade, yanking Sakura off the bed and pulling her in a bone crushing hug. "I was so worried about you!" She let herself be shook around by Tsunade. This could have put her through a lot of stress she realized. Tsunade put her back down, sitting her on the bed. "How are you feeling?" Sakura let out a simple, "Fine" Tsunade gave her a skeptical look. "Well, I'm surprised you're able to even talk. Do you remember everything?" She nodded. "I guess I do."

"Well, before we release you, we're going to have to do a checkup. So open wide and say 'ahh'" She did as said. "Walk for me, in a straight line please." Doing this, she felt a little lightheaded and fell on her knees. "Don't get up so fast and that won't happen." Tsunade made her do several other things, writing stuff down on a clipboard.

"Alright, you're fine. Everything has been taken care of and you're good to go. You'll have two weeks off to get back on your feet. Now Sakura, there are some things that I need to fill you in on." She had gotten serious so quickly and that's when Sakura realized how awful Tsunade looked. She had deep purple circles under her eyes, as if she hadn't been able to sleep.

"What happened?" Tsunade looked at Sai, and he nodded taking his leave. "Sakura…A war is about to erupt against the five great nations."

* * *

"_Hope is a good thing - maybe the best thing, and no good thing ever dies"__  
-Stephen King_

**A/N: **Well, how do you like the great cliffy-ish end? Readers, as much as I like my story being added to your favorites, I _love_ hearing your feedback from reviews. I hope everyone enjoyed reading this as much as I am enjoying writing this. Don't forget to review, and check out my other story's while waiting for the third chapter (Which will be out very soon, don't worry). I have to thank my beta reader, they are so patient with me! If you have any questions about my story just PM me and I will try to answer them as best as I can. So until then!...

**Review :)**


	3. The Beginning of a Long,Poignant Journey

**A/N: **I'm sorry there hasn't been any Deidara much, but I promise you there will be some soon. This will start leading out of the angsty part of the beginning but I'm sure there will still be a lot of angst in later chapters. So I hope everyone **enjoys.**

**Chapter Three: The Beginning of a Long, Poignant Journey**

"_What happened?" Tsunade looked at Sai and he nodded taking his leave. "Sakura…A war is about to erupt against the five great nations."_

_

* * *

_Sakura sat in shock, mouth agape. Tsunade continued.

"The Akatsuki organization has brainwashed different villages into believing that if they are on their side they will not be turned on in the end. They have joined alliances with each other. And you know as well as I do, that they will _not_ by any means hold their word on that. They are joining forces to go against Konoha to get their hands on Naruto's bijuu."

Sakura tried to take this all in. _One thing after another, huh?_ She thought.

"Sakura, I don't want you to get caught in this cataclysm. I'm asking you to leave Konoha before all of this starts. Get the enemy from the behind. Like a secret assassin. Hell, you don't even have to do that. All you have to do is stay alive." Sakura grew surprised by this.

"B-but I have to help protect this village, and Naruto! I can't let anything happen to him! He's helped me through everything in my whole life no matter how shallow or unkind I was to him as a kid. I _have _to protect him."

Tsunade let out a sigh. "Sakura by doing this, you _will_ be protecting him. You'll be killing the enemy, just not necessarily from the front line. _Please_ Sakura. Just do this for me. You're like a daughter to me and all I want to do is protect you. I want you to live a _long_, happy life." Tsunade emphasized the word 'long'.

"Your mission is to leave the fire country and stay alive."

She thought about it for a second. She would be on her lonesome for awhile. It just might be what she needed. "On some conditions will I do this."

"What are your conditions, Sakura?" Tsunade's eyes perking just a little.

"One, I will be able to say goodbye to Naruto and my other friends." She paused. "Two, I need money, enough for over a year and ninja supplies. Shuriken, kunai, soldier pills, etcetera. And three…Most importantly…Keep yourself and Naruto alive."

Tsunade's eyes softened and hugged Sakura. "I can't promise you the third, but I will damn well try my best and you know it Sakura."

"When am I supposed to leave?" Tsunade pulled away from the hug. "Within this month at the least. That gives you three weeks to prepare."

Sakura kiddingly said, "So no two weeks off?"

Tsunade laughed lightly. "And Sakura…you have to promise me you will _not_ die." Sakura nodded, tearing up. With that, Tsunade kissed Sakura on the forehead and walked out.

So there Sakura sat. On the hospital bed, all alone. _Alone. _She just began to process everything that was about to happen. Sakura felt a little lost with all this. A war was coming. A big one at that. Bigger than Orochimaru could have ever made. She knew the Sand nins were Konoha's allies, but she knew of no one else. Surely, that couldn't be the only place out there that would side with Konoha, but she knew that the Akatsuki were swell persuaders.

Three weeks. She had three weeks to mentally prepare herself for the long journey ahead.

Standing up, she found a pile of clean clothing next to her bed. Stripping off the patient's clothing, which consisted of an uncomfortable thin fabric, she slid on the clean clothes prepared for her. It was her usual civilian clothing. She stretched her unused body, bones popping and muscles pulling. She walked over to the table on the opposite side of the room. _Did all of these people really come to see me?_ She thought. The table was filled with practically all the people she went to the academy with as kids and more. She smiled, taking her leave from the hospital.

_Three weeks. _That was stuck in her head. How would she tell everyone about this? Would they dislike her for leaving the village in its time of need? She didn't know, but she would have to do it anyways. It was direct orders from the Hokage, so they would just have to accept it.

She walked to her apartment, the fresh air greeting her as she left the hospital. It was so weird when she arrived to her home, she could tell no one had been there for _two months_. She sighed. The painting her and Naruto had started had never even been finished, not like it would matter anyways. Sakura headed towards her bathroom, feeling the need to take a long, scorching shower. God knows long it had been since she's had one.

After her shower, she decided she might as well get done what had to get done. She had to tell her friends about her leaving.

This was going to be a long, hard day.

* * *

**Naruto**

She arrived at Naruto's apartment to find that he wasn't there. Then she checked the training fields. Not there either. Only one last place he could be. Ichiraku.

When she arrived at Ichiraku, there he was, stuffing his face with ramen. She laughed quietly to herself. _Same as always_. Walking in Ichiraku, she took a seat on the stool next to Naruto. "Sakura!" he yelled, mouth full of ramen. He gulped it all down before continuing. "Already out of the hospital! That's great! Here, I'll buy you some ramen, you must be starving!" She smiled as he ordered her some ramen.

"So Naruto, did I miss out on anything when I was asleep?" A deep blush crept on his features. "Uhm- W-well…you see…I have a girlfriend." Shocked was an understatement. "Who!" He looked away trying to hide his blush, "H-Hinata" She attacked him with a hug. "See I told you she liked you!" For the past few years, Sakura had been trying to convince Naruto that Hinata had a thing for him. He just couldn't see it. And the day he confessed, she had to miss it, damn it.

Her ramen was served and she began to eat. It had never tasted so good in her life. Well excluding the three months she was pregnant.

"Naruto, I have something important to tell you." He looked up from his ramen, "Yes?" Her heart crushed. "I'm leaving in three weeks. Direct orders from Tsunade-sama. I feel really bad for not staying in Konoha and protect-" he interrupted, his expression sober and calm, "Sakura, you're always putting yourself down. I don't see why. I know you want to protect me and you know I don't want you hurt. It's better if you're not in the front line. It would make me feel better. I know you can take care of yourself, just promise me you'll stay safe for me."

She nodded, and leaned over to hug him, "Naruto, I love you so much. You've always been there for me no matter what. I'll do my best for you. I promise." He smiled his trademark smile, "That's all I ask"

* * *

**Sai**

Sakura had never been in Sai's house before, just seen inside of it from the outside. It looked like she'd always thought it would look like. Plain furniture, walls covered with paintings, and different sized canvases around the room.

She sat on his couch, hands in her lap looking down. He was painting something before she arrived. "What do you want?" he asked.

"I'm leaving Konoha in three weeks."

He was unfazed. "Is that so?"

She nodded and began explaining everything Tsunade had requested of her. He understood.

"Well, Sakura, I'm…" he paused, as if looking for the right word. "I'm _glad_ that you're alright."

She smiled. He hadn't once called her ugly the time she'd been here. "Before you leave, come to see me."

"How come?" She asked.

"You'll see." Sakura nodded her head.

"Well…I've got a list of people to say good bye to. So I'll see you around Sai." He nodded, returning to his canvas.

* * *

**Ino**

Sakura decided to wait days afterwards to tell others. She was having a hard time coping with leaving. Even now, a week after she had woken up from her coma, she couldn't believe this was happening.

Ino would be incredibly hard to talk to about this. _She_ would be the one crying about her leaving. Sakura sighed. _Here goes nothing. _She thought, walking into the Yamanaka Flower Shop.

Ino greeted her with a big hug and smile, she returned the jesters. "Out of the hospital already? That's the Sakura I know!" Ino said, making her arms do weird motions. She laughed at her animated friend.

Ino walked them behind the cash register, where two chairs were. They talked for some time. Ino asked her about her pregnancy and she told her all about it. She told her about the mission that had causes her coma, and her response was, "Was that bad boy cute?" Her face held a sly smile.

Sakura nearly choked on the oxygen she was breathing. "Sakura! You're blushing! He _is_ isn't he? Holy shit!"

She tried to contain her blush and went to say, "He kind of looks like _you, _Ino."

Ino laughed, "Then he must be one _sexy _man, huh?" Sakura started laughing at her retarded friend. Leave it to Ino to be the one to ask if an S-Class Criminal cute. Turns out Ino had also gotten a boyfriend.

_I'm such a bad friend. I'm out on both of my friend's love lives!_ Sakura was surprised to _who_ her boyfriend was. She could have sworn her mouth had dropped to the floor. _Choji_. Choji of all people. She use to be disgusted by him.

"He's not even really fat. He's just like…big. You know what I mean? And besides, he's a nice guy." It looks as if Ino got over most of her ways. She was still extremely surprised by this.

Their conversation dragged, and as Sakura suspected, Ino did cry. She didn't want her best friend to leave her alone at a time like this. Patting her back, she told her that she'd come back to see her after the war was over.

With one last hug, she left the Yamanaka Store.

* * *

**Kakashi**

She found Kakashi leaning against a tree reading one of his porno books. As it turns out, he had already known. Tsunade had told him ahead of time.

Kakashi had told her that he was sorry for her loss and she nodded, trying to keep the tears down. "I have something for you. I meant to give it to you before you left for your mission, but a black cat crossed my path, and then I had to help an old lady cross the street."

Hearing his long line of excuses just like the old days made her laugh. Really hard. She couldn't control herself.

Her former sensei just looked at her, skeptical. Wiping away a tear, she tried to breathe again. "I'm sorry. It's just, you're still the same as always and I just couldn't help myself."

She could tell he was smiling with that trademark eye crinkle of his.

They walked to his apartment and he told her to wait. He was back within around two minutes, and in hand was a small katana. The sheath was a beautiful bold red. The design was a lighter pink of cherry blossoms connected to a gold vine. Her eyes sparkled and she jumped him in a hug. "Thank you Kakashi!"

"It was Naruto's idea, Sai came up with the design and I just knew some people that owed me some favors." She beamed, pulling away from the hug.

It had been even better that the one who had given the katana had been the one to teach her most she knows about it. She had learned to use her fire with it, like Sasuke had with his accept lightning.

"And yes, it's designed to use your chakra strength and affinity with it, so don't worry about melting or breaking it. Think of it as a late, late birthday present, or a going away present."

"Also…You see that kanji letter on the bottom?" She nodded. It said Sakura. "Well, basically all you have to do is kind of push that bottom part of the katana onto your skin. You can make your sword disappear when you don't want to carry it or for whatever reason. All you have to do for that is to push it inwards on the mark. For it to reappear, put your hand on the mark and it will glow. Pull your hand outward from the part and your katana will come out with it. You have to have chakra to do this though. It's almost like a summoning jutsu."

Holding the katana in her hands, she looked at the bottom. Lifting it she jabbed it onto her bicep and it burned. "Fuck Kakashi! It burns like hell!" He smiled nervously.

Pulling the katana away from her arm, the tattoo glowed blue and faded. You could barely see it, as if it were a light birthmark. "Cool" She stared incredulously back and forth at the light mark on her arm to the katana.

Snapping out of her daze, she stupidly asked Kakashi a question.

"Uhm…Kakashi…What month is it?"

"It's September. By the time you leave it will already be October." She nodded.

"Well, ready to test it out?" She looked at him, eyes wide with emotion. "Really?"

He laughed. "It may be the last time you'll be able to spar with me." She began to tear up, understanding his meaning. If he dies in the war, it definitely would be the last time she would spar with him.

They had taken their time walking to the training fields, and once they got there they gave each other a nice sober smile. Well, Kakashi gave his eye crinkle everyone knew so well.

They both got in a ready stance, starting with whoever made the first move. It was Kakashi.

He appeared behind her within a flash and she elbowed him in the stomach. A poof of smoke appeared. A clone.

She looked around and thought about the genin days. She quickly jumped up to see his hand pop out of the ground and twisted her body around kicking the Kakashi that appeared behind her. That was the real him.

"I must be getting old, you're predicting every move." He said.

He pulled his mask down enough to show his red eye. She smirked. He was getting serious with her.

He made some signs, she'd recognized them. A huge fire ball had appeared and she countered it with a wind jutsu. Hers overpowered his, the fire dispersing.

"Since when could you do that?" She shrugged. "Just now I guess."

Last second, she had thought about it and just did it.

Kakashi charged at her, disappearing and reappearing to her right. She ducked as he threw his arm out, then grabbed his foot that tried to kick her. She twisted his body and it poofed.

"Stop using those damn clones!"

She unsheathed her katana; his real self appeared to her left, moving at such a fast speed she could almost not see him. Almost.

He aimed for her neck and she blocked it with her left arm, adding her fire affinity, she grazed his stomach with her sword. That would probably scar.

He groaned in pain as the cut burned from the hot katana.

Quickly, she jumped away. "Hey Kakashi! Will lightning work with this katana too?"

His eyebrow creased, probably in confusion. "I guess so. Why?"

She smiled a fierce smile.

Lifting up her katana, she felt wind pressuring around it, then heard the sounds of electricity humming through it. "This is why!" She slashed her katana through the thin air and the electricity followed through aiming towards Kakashi.

His eyes widened as he quickly summoned his chidori to counter.

"How the hell did you manage to do that?"

"I did some research. It turns out that wind can generate electricity through the atmospheric pressures, thus creating lightning. And since my nature manipulation is wind, it worked perfectly. Took me awhile to get it but I did! Of course…" She blushed, "I had gotten a lot of replacement katana's."

He was fairly amazed. She came up with this all on her own? That was insane.

Sucking up his pain, he continued on. Quickly appearing in front of Sakura, he tried a hit in which she blocked.

Backing up from him, she awaited for his next attack. Kakashi disappeared again and went behind her to kick her back. Flying a couple of feet, she regained balance on the ground. She put her katana away, watching for any sign of him.

He appeared in front of her, going to punch her in the stomach.

Grabbing his hand, she twisted it and heard a sick crack.

"Oh my god! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to!"

He laughed. "Relax Sakura. If anything it's just…broken…"

She mentally slapped herself in the face. She'd gotten too caught up in the fight.

Grabbing his arm, she pulled him down to the ground with her where she began her work.

"Uhm Kakashi?"

"Yes?"

She first worked on his stomach. It healed quickly. Reconstructing the tissue and bones on his wrist would take longer.

She loosened the muscle and tendons around the bone, allowing it to move easier, not less painful, back into place. She twisted his wrist back into place and she heard a noise of pain from him.

"Sorry 'bout that. But I was wondering. Since we might never see eachother again…and" Her healing chakra flared. "It's just I've never seen your face and I want to see it at least once before I die!" She was embarrassed of asking such a thing.

He chuckled. "Sure if that's-"

She interrupted, venom in her voice, "And it better not be another fucking mask like when we were kids. I want to see some skin."

He nervously laughed. "Sure Sakura. I'll show you once you're done with my wrist."

She grinned. That'd only be just a few more minutes.

After she was done, she examined her work. "How does it feel?"

"Better than when you snapped it in half."

She laughed. "Sorry about that…Now…Onto business."

Laughing nervously, he looked at her. "Don't…freak out. Okay?" She nodded, eager eyes watching his every movement.

She unconsciously leaned in closer as his hand slowly elevated to his mask, pulling it down slowly.

He was fucking beautiful.

She fainted.

"Sakura, Sakura…Sakura?" Her body was being shook.

Regaining consciousness, she looked at her ex-now masked-sensei.

"Holy. Shit. I don't mean to like, freak you out. But you're hot."

His eye crinkle was evident as he scratched the back of his head.

"Well, thanks. Why do you think I keep it on?"

His face would be forever embedded in her brain. It was smooth, with a few small scars. His masculine jaw line complimented his face very well. His lips were not fish lips like they had suspected as kids. They were thin, but nice. There was a small tan line from where his mask had been. If he was just a few years younger, Sakura joked inside her head.

She was probably blushing by now.

Remembering his face, she fainted again.

She would never be the same, she mentally noted.

* * *

Sakura lay in bed on top of the covers. She stared at the ceiling trying to make pictures out of the texture.

Sighing, she thought about all the things she had missed out on.

Naruto had finally realized his feelings for his lifelong admirer. Ino had gotten over her self-loving self. She'd stop dieting all the time, and Sakura thought she actually looked better. Instead of just bone, she had managed to gain a few pounds, still looking great. Possibly even better. And now that Sakura thought about it, she had lost a few pounds. _Comas tend to do that._ She thought.

She'd seen Kakashi's face and boy she understood why he covered it. If he didn't, he'd have all the girls in Konoha, possibly even guys she was sure, after him. Sai had been learning true emotions from Naruto apparently. Sakura could tell the attraction happening between Hinata's cousin and Ten Ten. Surprised? No. In fact, she'd seen _that _coming.

So basically, love was in the air. She could understand too. You might as well get your true feelings out just in case somebody doesn't come back alive. Everyone was practically acting like it was the end of the world. In a sense, it could be only if they let it be.

Two weeks were left till she had to leave.

She was scared to be on her lonesome till the war was over. That could take _years_ until it was fully over. And then there would be the mess to clean up and rouge ninja that thought they were bad ass.

She closed her eyes, letting sleep engulf her.

* * *

Another week had passed by. Sakura was getting frustrated. This was all she wasn't going to have in a week. In some sense it was torturing her. There was nothing to do here anymore. She was just waiting for the three weeks to be up, but she was ready to go. _Now._

Everything was already packed in a medium-small bag. It held her clothes that would last a few days. She'd packed three winter outfits, seeing it was starting to chill already and fall clothing. Sleepwear and under clothing were packed at the bottom. She had soap and shampoo in a side pocket, along with her monthly business on the other side.

There was dry food that would stay good for months packed in between the clothing, to stay dry. She would get her ninja supplies and money from Tsunade today.

* * *

Stepping out of the shower, she dried her body, sliding her clothes on.

After toweling her hair dry, she looked at herself in the mirror. Six months ago, she was happy in a relationship. Now, she was here. A great ninja war about to take place.

She had circles under her eyes and she looked thinner. She'd eat a proper meal tonight, she decided.

Walking into her living room, she grabbed her shoes by the front door. Sliding them on, she left to the Hokage tower.

She'd seen a few people she knew on the way there and she felt like crying inside.

Walking up the stairs to the Hokage's tower, she saw a messenger bird. _That's kind of weird._ Sakura thought. She wondered who it could have been from.

She knocked on the Hokage's door and she yelled for her to come in.

"Ahh, Sakura. What do you need?" She seemed sober.

"Uh, Well I was just wondering who that message was from." Sakura said nervously.

"Oh it was just from Suna. They were letting us know they were ready for battle whenever it starts. So nothing big. Now, anything else?" She seemed busy today. There were piles over piles of paper work. Half of it couldn't even fit on her desk.

"Well, I was just wondering if I could get the money and supplies for my trip today. I've decided that I will be leaving early." She wasn't sure how Tsunade would respond.

"What? Why are you leaving early Sakura?"

"There's nothing left here for me to do. So I might as well go ahead and get a head start before anything happens." Inside Sakura wanted to cry. She didn't want to leave Konoha, but knew there was nothing left for her to do there.

Tsunade nodded. "I see…Well if that's how you feel, I'll go ahead and gather everything for you right now." Sakura nodded.

Tsunade walked out of the room.

She waited. It had been awhile before Tsunade had come back.

"Here Sakura." A medium sized bag was placed in front of her. "There's all the money, weapons and etcetera that you asked for."

"Thank you." She bowed.

"So when will you be leaving."

"Tomorrow morning I'm guessing." Sakura said sadly.

"So this is our good bye, huh?" Tsunade asked.

"Yeah…" Sakura sniffed. Tears started to fall down her face and she hugged Tsunade tightly.

"I'm going to miss you Tsunade." She cried.

Hugging her apprentice, nearly daughter, "Yeah…I'm going to miss you too." She hugged her tighter.

Pulling away, she gave Sakura some advice.

"Sakura, whatever you do, don't let any enemy see your week side. Stay strong and use that spunk I _know_ you got from me. Don't _ever_ let them see you cry. You got that?" She nodded, wiping away a tear.

She hugged Tsunade one last time, "Thank you. For everything Tsunade."

Tsunade smiled and she was gone.

"Shizune! Get me the strongest we have, now!" Yelling at the top of her lungs, a scared woman appeared in the room with big eyes.

"Yes Hokage-sama!" And she dashed off.

* * *

Sakura sat on her bed, her feet on the hardwood floor looking at the bag in her lap. It was the only thing she had been doing since her discussion with Tsunade.

_Am I really going to go through with this?_ She asked herself.

Of course she would. How couldn't she? She had already agreed and they were direct orders nonetheless.

Sighing, she opened the bag. There were wrapped up kunai and shuriken, containers of soldier pills and ointments and lastly, huge wads of cash.

She kind of felt guilty for taking all of this.

That's when she remembered Sai told her to visit him before she left.

Sighing once again, she got up and walked out of her room. Walking to the front door, she put her shoes on and made her way to Sai's home.

It was starting to chill outside by this time, she shivered.

Knocking on Sai's door, she waited.

"Yes Sakura?"

A voice was heard behind her and she jumped, adrenaline pumping until she realized it was just Sai.

"You can put that kunai away, Sakura."

When had she taken it out in the first place?

Muttering an apology, she put it away.

"Come on in." He said, walking past her to open his door.

"Sorry to bother you so late Sai, it's just you told me to come see you before I left. And well…I'm leaving tomorrow morning."

"I see…Well…Hold on one second." She nodded and watched him as he looked through some piles of messy paper.

He picked one up and a light blue glow emitted from the paper.

"Here Sakura. It's a painting of Team Seven. That glow right there was a protective covering. It can't get wet, crumpled, or ripped. So..." He trailed off and she hugged him.

"Thank you Sai." He wasn't exactly sure how to react, but from what the books had told him, he was supposed to wrap his arms around her as well. Unsurely, he hugged her back.

Somehow, Sakura thought that Sai wasn't as impassive as everyone had thought. She thought that he knew how to use emotions, just hid it because of the ANBU group he was in. Even if he didn't realize it, there were moments where he had slipped and showed just the slightest emotion. Like when Sakura had figured out about Sai's book.

She pulled away from the hug and stared at the painting. It was amazing.

It was the team seven when they had just came together. They were all sitting by a tree, Yamato standing. Everyone was smiling, even Sai. From the panting, it looked like a spring day. She absolutely loved it.

"I'll always keep it with me. Thank you." She repeated.

He nodded and just the faintest smile showed on his face. No one else may have been able to notice at first glance, but if you looked close enough, you'd see it alright.

* * *

Now, Sakura was packing. She put everything in the right pouch and bag. Looking at the picture Sai had drawn her; she smiled and began to cry. This is what she would miss the most.

"_Don't ever let them see you cry." _Tsunade's voice rang through her head.

"_Stay strong and use that spunk I know you got from me."_ Sakura smiled, wiping her tears away.

From now on, no more crying she decided. She would stay strong and bring back her own spirited self everyone use to know.

She lay in bed now, thinking about the things that were ahead.

Four in the morning, she awoke.

Groggily, she walked into her bathroom and began to take a hot shower.

She groaned. "So early!"

Drying off, she put on her ninja attire and grabbed her backpack. She put the pouches on their assigned places on her body.

She walked around her apartment, getting on last look in. Going into her kitchen, she grabbed a bite. Just a quick fruit and threw the remains away.

The sun was just about to rise as she walked slowly around Konoha. She wanted to remember what it looked like before it got destroyed.

Sighing, she walked to the front gates. In the distance, she could see somebody standing near the gates. Squinting, she couldn't see but the dark hair and thin figure.

As she got closer she began to recognize who it was. They hadn't spoke in over two months, if you could call that a chat.

"So, Sakura. I hear you're abandoning the village." He barked.

"Direct orders from the Hokage. Don't assume I'm doing the same stupid shit you did, Sasuke." She spat at him, attitude in her voice.

He laughed.

"I heard about your…incident."

She glared at him.

"Whatever are you talking about?"

"You know…the one where you got _pregnant_."

Tsunade's voice rang in her ears as she listened to him, trying to instigate. _"Use that spunk I know you got from me."_

"What about it. I didn't think you'd care so much to approach me about this."

"Care?" He laughed. "No, I was just going to ask who's it belong to."

She wanted to punch him right in the face and _rip_ his manly hood off in the most painful way right now. But if she let him know that his instigations were working, that would only satisfy him and she could _not_ let him have that satisfaction.

"Who the fuck do you think it belonged to. I'm not the whore here, just in case you haven't noticed. I'm also not the traitor here. I'm just following orders."

"Oh really? You're not the whore here? Well, I've heard differently."

He was definitely trying to test her.

"Well, whatever you heard was wrong. I don't _care _about you or what you think of me anyways."

He laughed, and in a flash was in front of her. His hand cupped her cheek as he was less than a foot away from her face.

"That's why you spent all of those years chasing after me. Trying to be _pretty_ for me. That's why you made _love_ to me." The way he said love was sickening.

She spat in his face as hers held a look of apathy on it.

His hand quickly removed itself from her face to wipe off the offending spit. The features of his face held a displeasing look, anger possibly.

Raising his hand, he went to hit her and she blocked it, twisting his wrist to where it made a sickening crack and making sure the tendons were slid out of place.

She would have ripped it off, but that would waste too much of her energy she needed for later on.

"If that's all you have to say, then I'm leaving Sasuke." She threw his arm out of her hands and walked around him, leaving Konoha.

Her heart ached. How badly she wanted to cry but held it in.

"_Don't ever let them see you cry."_

She would try her hardest to follow all of Tsunade's words.

* * *

Sakura ran, and she ran, and she ran. It was twilight right about now and she was worn. She wasn't able to find a city or some kind of inn so she would just have to stop here. In the middle of nowhere.

_Shit. Have I gotten myself lost?_ She mentally screamed at herself. Sighing, she forced her chakra down to her feet and began to walk up a tree. She sat down on a rather large looking branch and tied her belongings onto other branches. Muttering a few words, sliding in a few hand signs, she put a small barrier around her items, and then around a one kilometer radius to alert for any intruders. Shizune taught her that one.

She was rather uncomfortable lying against the hard bark of the tree. But it could be worse.

Dozing off, she felt something penetrate her barrier. Immediately, her eyes flew open and her guard went up. She slid a kunai from her pouch and slowly crept down the tree only to find a…a…

Deer?

She slapped her forehead, groaning. Feeling stupid, she should have recognized that there was no chakra in the area. But she could have sworn she had felt a faint pulse of chakra. It had just disappeared out of nowhere.

Two seconds later she was on the ground, grabbing her side in pain.

She looked up to see a rather bulky man. He was tan and had a black, pointy beard along with disheveled hair. Standing above her, he was laughing like a maniac.

That's why she had only felt a faint pulse. It was because this man was just a rouge ninja.

"Think you're so bad ass, huh?" She asked, before disappearing.

She reappeared behind him, kunai in hand up to his throat. Pressing against his skin lightly, it punctured just barely for a little trickle of blood to slide down.

She began to demand questions like, "What do you want" and "What's your name".

He laughed at her and said some profanities.

"You think I'm gunna tell a little wench like you?"

Her grip on him tightened. "Considering the situation you're in, it'd seem like you have no other choice."

"Ha! I'd rather die; or rather..._Kill you_, before telling someone like you anything." He spat. Literally, in front of him.

"As you wish." She said, just before slitting his throat, then twisting his neck until it made a crunchy crack sound. Dropping the dead body, she looked at it. He didn't look very well off. His clothes were practically rags.

Staring at her hands she had just realized what she had just done. With such ease, at that.

Her hands began to shake and vision blur, but she didn't let the tears fall.

She felt like such a bad person.

_But wasn't he just threatening you?_ A voice said in her head.

She agreed with this voice. That didn't mean that she didn't feel guilty.

_He deserved it._ The voice said again.

She guess he did. It's not like you randomly go up to somebody you _know _is stronger than you and threaten them.

_It's like he was asking for his own death bed. _She shook her head, trying to get rid of these thoughts that were plaguing her mind.

"I'm already going crazy and I've only been gone for one day." She said out loud.

She sighed. "Joubu" She muttered, strengthening the barrier.

Walking back to her tree, she went back to her branch, falling unconscious again.

* * *

Awakening to a nasty stench was not the best way to wake.

Stretching her arms and wiping her eyes, she grabbed all of her belongings and jumped down the tree.

"Houmen." The barrier was released.

The scent got much worse as she came down. Looking to her left, she nearly puked.

There were animals feasting on a man, the one she had killed last night. Hearing a tear of flesh, she saw this unfamiliar animal with a chunk of meat in its mouth, blood freely leaking down.

She then ran feeling disgusted.

Next time, she would bury them.

* * *

After an hour of running, she decided to go ahead and eat. Pulling her pack off her back, she dug through her belongings. "There!" She pulled out a little bar of protein and ripped one fourth of it off to eat. She grabbed a pack of money, shoving it into her each side of her bra, just in case it got taken. Looking for Sai's picture, she shoved it in a wrapping around her thigh.

Sitting her back against a tree, she looked up at the sky. There were a few freely floating clouds. It reminded her of Shikamaru. She bet if not working or playing shouji, this was exactly what he would be doing.

She sighed.

"Who's going to get through this war?" She asked herself.

Picking herself up, she began looking for a town.

* * *

Around dusk, Sakura found a little inn on what she recognized as the outskirts of the River Country. It was pretty rundown, but hey, better than being out in the chilly weather. Sakura _needed_ a shower.

Unlocking her door, the room was horrible. It smelled and the carpet was stained. She wouldn't doubt it if there were roaches crawling through the sheets.

Scratch that. Sleeping outside _was _better than this. Walking to the next door, she opened it. It was the shower. The tub had rust and mold marks. She was almost too tired to care.

This was not going to work. She'd rather sleep on the table. She had already paid for the hotel so she didn't want to let all that money go to waste.

Putting her backpack on the edge of the table she laid her head on it, curling up into a ball. As her eyes began to droop, she saw a little black _thing_ move in front of her on the table. Opening her eyes more to see it was a roach. She screamed and jumped off the table. Grabbing a kunai from her thigh she stabbed it right in the middle, cutting it in half and proceeding to cut into the table.

She was out of here.

* * *

As she walked out of the hotel, she looked to her left and her right looking at the other places around the rundown town. She wouldn't have been surprised if she'd seen a tumbleweed brush by.

There were starving homeless people that hid in dark corners. Some of them, she could tell, were dead. It made her sick. How could people get into that situation and how could other people not care enough to help?

Walking around town the sun had finally fallen and the moon was the only light around. She ended up finding a bar. It was loud and rowdy. But…she found herself walking in.

There were a lot of men there, some big and muscular, others just big and chubby. Then there were the women. Most were stick thin and smoked. They wore as little clothing as possible. To her right, there were men arm wrestling.

_Hell to the yeah._ She thought.

Walking over she saw the bigger arm wrestler get crushed. The man who won had some pretty beefy arms, but hey…they don't say she has inhuman strength for nothing.

The loser of the match got up and just before another man sat down, she slid her body right into the chair.

"Hey miss, this is an arm wrestling match, not a beauty contest." A roar of manly laughs could be heard.

"I know that. You afraid you're going to lose to me or something?" The man laughed.

"Bring it."

They positioned their elbows on the table grabbing a hold of each other's hands and started. She kept the strength evened out and even let him push her arm down her side a little bit. A victorious smirk appeared on his face until she slammed his hand into the wooden table.

His eyes were wide with shock. There was a dent in the wood from where she had slammed his hand down.

"Okay. This is no fun." She pouted getting up.

All the men in the room stared at her for a good five minutes before returning to their activities. She heard the one man she had beat getting teased by a whole bunch of guys.

"I just let her win." She heard him say lamely.

Inwardly, she laughed. He probably felt terrible for losing to a woman.

"Can you get me a drink?" The bartender looked at her.

"Sure! On the house for beatin' that guy" She leaned in closer to her before speaking again, "Nobody has ever beaten that guy. He's been as cocky as hell and it's good that somebody put him in his place, especially a woman!"

Sakura smiled at the lady.

A few seconds later her drink had arrived. She smelled it. It was _strong_. Then she drank it and it burned like hell going down.

The bartender gave her another drink and she did the same as the first.

She wondered what type of alcohol this was because she began to feel good right after the second shot. It felt…different. She could hear the little noises, like footsteps, glasses, certain things that would catch her attention that usually, she wouldn't mind.

Hearing the door creek open, she looked behind her. She saw an incredibly flat chested blond women come in.

_Even I have more boob than that._ Sakura thought.

"Here, have another one!" The bartender encouraged her, sliding a shot down to her.

She obliged.

The blond women that had come in only moments ago sat next to her.

"Strongest you have, yeah."

Was she a drag queen? Or he? She didn't know. But she had incredibly _gorgeous _long blond shiny hair. And an incredibly flat chest.

The women, drag queen, whatever, downed the shot without even a 'gahh' that Sakura would do.

She was impressed.

A hand on her left shoulder interrupted her gawking at this woman.

She drunkenly turned her head and let out an "mmm?"

It was the man she had beaten in the arm wrestling match a half hour ago.

"How'd you do it?" His voice was desperate.

"Do…_what?_" She asked stupidly.

"How'd you beat me in arm wrestling? My arm is twice if not _three_ times bigger than yours."

This caught the blonds attention, who began eavesdropping and glancing occasionally in the twos direction. Sakura was extremely familiar to the _'woman_'.

"I'm strong? I dunno. Don't judge a bird by its napkin." The alcohol had really sunk in by now. If she were sober, she'd say she'd been drugged. No alcohol makes her act this way in _three_ messily shots.

"Don't you mean a book by its cover?" The man asked kind of thrown back by her talk.

"I've had a few" She pointed her thumb backwards in the direction of the bar. Twirling the spinning stool around in the direction of the bar, she looked at the blond again.

Reaching out her hand, she grabbed a hold of her blond locks. They were so silky.

The blond turned in her direction, appalled at her actions.

Sakura then stupidly said, "I just _love_ your hair."

"Umm…Thanks. If you could let go of it, yeah?"

She giggled. "Okay." She stretched the word out. "But it's so soft. How do you get it like that? It's just so…pretty!" If she were sober, she would have been able to tell the frustrated features of the blonds face.

Beginning to feel funny, she slammed down like dead weight on the floor unable to move. She just felt _so_ good.

All she recalled was a blond hair inches from her face as they leant over her and her giggling her ass off about who knows what before she had fallen unconscious.

* * *

When Sakura awoke, her arms were sore, along with her wrists. She was in a weird dark room, almost like a prison cell. She was sitting upright in a metal chair.

"Ahh Fuck." She muttered, becoming more aware of the chakra bindings around her wrists and ankles.

* * *

_"Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around."_  
_Leo F. Buscaqlia_

**A/N:** Well, here's my third chapter! (It's the longest!) I wonder who that women was? I kind of enjoyed writing that Sasuke scene haha. I don't really have anything else to say, so if any of you have and questions/concerns/ideas don't refrain from asking.

** Review. :)**


	4. The Rescuer and Recueee

**Chapter Four: The Rescuer and Rescue-ee**

* * *

She tried to move around but it was found to be unproductive. Trying to break the chakra bindings on her wrists, she noticed how weak she felt. Her arms felt tired, as if she had just done one million pushups. So doing the only thing she could do, she tried to assess the situation.

One, she had almost no chakra. Two, she was tied up uncomfortably in a metal chair. Three, she was kidnapped and had absolutely _no_ idea where she was at. And four, she was in a dusty medieval looking room that had one window that was higher than she could reach. It was night time, she could tell.

Sighing, she let her head droop. Being chakra depleted was one of the worse feelings ever. At the moment, she wished she were Shikamaru, being able to find a solution to _any_ problem.

She began to wonder how long she'd been here. If she were drugged, she could have been out for a few days to a few hours possibly.

Recalling what happened at the bar, she never saw the bartender slip anything into her drink. In fact, she couldn't recall any time that she could have been drugged. Possibly, the alcohol could have already been spiked. They could have a bottle for random people they wanted to take for hostage.

Sakura would most likely have been angry, beyond pissed if she had the energy. Her thoughts then led to what they did to her while she was asleep…

She panicked and began to check her body with the little chakra she had left, looking for cuts, bruises, things that would scar her in _different_ ways. She let out a sigh of relief as she found nothing to be wrong accept a few bruises.

A loud creek was emitted from the heavy door in the front right of the room. Looking up, she saw a bulky unfamiliar man.

"Hey sweetheart." She nearly gagged. He was like what…twenty years older than her, at least! Walking over to her, he lifted up her chin forcing her to look at his face. He was tanned and muscular, that much she could see. His hair was a dark brown, graying at the ends.

"Now…We're going to ask a couple of questions…"

Interrogation?

"Questions?" She said slowly.

He smiled a perverted smile.

"Yes" He dropped his hand from her face. "Now, we can do this the easy way…or the hard way."

"I'm guessing either way it's going to end up with the latter." She said. She had been taught a few things here and there about interrogation.

"What's your name?" He started.

She stared.

"Sakura."

"Where are you from?"

She dipped her head, pointing out her head band.

"Konoha."

"What are Konoha's plans for the upcoming war."

She didn't answer. The interrogator began to pace back and forth, hands locked together.

He repeated the question. The room stayed silent.

"How many ninja's are planning to take part?"

No answer.

He sighed. "I don't like hittin' women. But when I start, I can't stop so if you would please answer my questions."

Her face turned into a scowl.

Running a hand through his hair, he continued on with the questions.

"Does Konoha have an ultimate weapon?"

A loud slap echoed through the room.

She glared at the ground as she felt the tingles erupt from her nerves cause by the man.

_Torture and Interrogation. _She corrected.

Pacing again, he started asking various other questions about Konoha that she simply would not relay to him. He began to get furious about her ties with the village. She had gotten many hits to her face, cuts to her arms, and yelled at.

"I told you, once I start, I can't stop!" Laughing like a maniac, he used his kunai to slid it down slowly on Sakura's arm. It wasn't too deep, but it wasn't just a scratch.

Refraining from groaning in pain, she glared at the floor to her right all the while squinting her eyes.

_This guy's nuts!_

His laughs became more and more sinister as the minutes dragged on by, the questions long gone.

The kunai that held its place in his left hand began to trail down lower, and she squirmed under him, incredibly uncomfortable now.

Just then, the door slammed open. "Juuno. Enough. We want to keep her alive, now. Come on."

A thin, tall man was standing in the door way. His facial features were unknown to Sakura in this dim lighting, but he sounded to be handsome.

"Till later, pinkette." 'Juuno' winked at her, taking his leave and she was now alone. She gagged.

_He's good on the torture part…not so much the interrogation._ She noted. He was practically a sadist!

Her face felt numbly sore. She was sure he had bruised both of her cheek bones. She had a slit on her left cheek from one of his nails. At this thought, she gagged. Who knew where his filthy hands had been.

Juuno had also ended up during the interrogation, throwing her across the room. In her chair she might add. Her arms were very soar, bruised most likely from her body that had forced the metal down into her skin. There were many cuts on her arms that had persisted to bleed from when he got overly sadistic and slowly slid the sharp metal up and down her arms. Some, around her wrists, others on her biceps. He _really_ enjoyed other peoples pain.

But this was all for Konoha she had told herself. She wasn't sure whether or not she was supposed to kill herself because she was an ANBU, or if she even counted as an ANBU anymore. Sure, she still had the tattoo on her right bicep, but was she still considered an active Konoha ninja? She wasn't sure, she didn't have any answers to her any of her questions. It was bad enough being extremely close to the Hokage, knowing most everything that goes on in Konoha, to get into this type of situation.

Another day passed by and she was reprimanded several times by Juuno that if she didn't start answering soon, than the same torture tactics were going to be used on her yet again.

On the outside, she tried to remain cool and calm and tried avoiding showing any physical pain he caused her. But on the inside, she was going insane. She absolutely detested being tied up. What she hated the most was being interrogated. Don't they know when to stop? She obviously was not going to betray Konoha any time soon and she wasn't planning on it.

She was interrupted from her thoughts as she fell on the floor. The pain took seconds before her brain recognized the signals being sent throughout her body, confirming the hurt she felt. She ended up knocked over, arms still tied behind her chair, on her right side. How the metal bar found the most uncomfortable way to dig in her skin, she would never know. The impact from the right side of her face when she hit the floor hurt her bruising. Inwardly she winced. It hurt!

Juuno grabbed the top of the chair and flung it up, her body being flung up with it.

"You're a damn feisty one to be saying sarcastic comments in this situation. If I wanted to…right now…I could just slice you up in to pieces nobody would be able to recognize…Yeah…That sounds real good." She barely scowled.

Come to think of it, she couldn't remember saying any sarcastic remarks. Digging through her memory of the past five minutes, she couldn't recall doing so. Becoming frustrated she began to get a headache. She was surprised she hadn't had one in the first place from the loud mouthed interrogator.

"Well, my time is up here kitten. I suggest, if you want to live than you better start talking." He slipped her an ugly smirk as he trailed out the door.

She shuddered as she felt hot, yet cold. This was the most unpleasant sitting arrangement, especially when she got random itches she was unable to get.

She could tell from the light reflecting off the wall, it was sunset right about now. She stretched her neck backwardly to look at the window on the top left side of the back wall. The sun blinded her eyes as she turned away blinking furiously to try to get the splats to go away.

Interrupting her blinking-fest, her stomach growled obnoxiously loud. She looked down to realize how much her stomach had been aching. The last thing she had ingested was alcohol, and before that, a small piece of a protein bar. Her mind had not exactly been focused on food the past couple of days. Thinking back, she remembered that proper meal she told herself she was going to get, but failed to remember. She hadn't had a proper meal since before her coma, which she might add, was over three months ago.

So basically, she was an aching beaten up mess she concluded.

Before she knew it, the sun had set and any warmth that it had produced was completely gone. She was freezing. It was around October, she had estimated not sure about the exact date. The winter in the Rain country would usually be pretty bad. Considering it's neighboring countries with Sand, it made no absolute logic to her.

From the outside, she heard some shuffling of grass and rocks. Her heartbeat quickened and her natural reflexes went to grab a kunai, that is until the restraints reminded who's boss. She was anxious to know what was causing the noise. Then, it stopped. Releasing a breath she never knew she was holding, she felt relaxed.

"Hey, yeah."

She jumped in fright and a small squeak elicited from her throat.

Turning her head backwards, she saw a very familiar blond hair, blue eyed man sitting casually on the windowsill, high up the wall.

"What the _hell_ are you doing here _Deidara_?" Her voice was hushed, unknowing of how loud was too loud for the other men to hear. Smoothly, he jumped down about fifteen feet not making a sound. He walked over towards her and she tensed.

He openly made a face of something she couldn't place, but continued from there out to tease her. "I should be asking _you_ that. Aren't you supposed to know when a drink is spiked?" He asked slightly above a whisper. "And how are you still tied up?" He paused briefly,"And to top it all off, you look like complete shit with all those cuts and bruises, yeah."

She inwardly growled. Usually she would have been fuming and beating the life out of him for saying such things to her. But at the moment, she was too worn. She had been beaten for the answers she wasn't going to give and the damn chakra restraints were pissing her off to no end.

"Don't make that face, yeah. I actually came to help you out." Her face contorted into unasked questions. "You see, I saw you at the bar in Rain, you were drunk as hell. Enough to not recognize me, or that you were-" He made a face, "trying to play…with my…hair." He strained, then continued on. "You were mumbling and saying shit that didn't make sense and you let it slip out that you had only had three shots, yeah. So I either thought you were an extreme light weight-"

"I'm not a light-weight!"

He continued on, "_Or_ you had been drugged. So I went with the latter when you slammed on the ground, yeah. The bartender said that they would take care of you until you woke up, but there was something not quite right about it. So I waited it out, yeah, and as it turned out a group of guys were carrying you around outback and I decided to follow them. And now you're here, in this weird huge brick domicile." She stared incredulously at the blond in front of her.

"You talk a lot."

Her mind then wondered why he had followed her, but was interrupted when she recalled what he had said. She tried to stifle a laugh, which didn't work out.

He gave her a weird look. "What."

"I thought you were a women! Or a drag queen or _something_. Don't take it the wrong way, I know for sure you're a man!" She exclaimed before he felt the need to prove her wrong, as Naruto felt with Sai. At that thought, a brief wave a nostalgia came over her. But she quickly brushed it off and continued on with her sentences. "I just don't see how I thought you were a woman. They must have used some good drugs…" She trailed off.

Looking at him, she could tell he was a little irked at her rambling about him being feminine. "But wait…" She paused.

"What, yeah."

"Why did you follow them all the way here, and then say you're going to help me?"

He half smirked half smiled, it was hard to tell which more of the one it was.

"We've got a fight to finish, remember? So you can't simply die on me. I like a challenge! And besides, I thought this could get interesting, yeah."

She wasn't sure what to say. His reasoning was rash for following her.

He took a kunai out and she tensed as he began to walk towards her. Walking around her, she felt her arms being rose slightly and cold on her wrists. "What are you doing!"

"I already told you…I'm getting you out of here."

A warm callused hand held her left forearm as the other one worked on tearing the binds apart.

She sighed of relief when the bindings had been released then rubbed her bruised wrists to get the blood flowing through again.

He was then working on her ankles.

"I don't see why you're doing this. I'm the enemy."

"I'm not repeating what I already said, yeah." With another jerk, her ankles were free as well.

He stood upright in front of her, putting his kunai away. Accepting her newborn freedom, she quickly stood up only to fall onto a hard, soft, warm…Deidara's chest!

She let out a barely audible 'eep!' and pushed herself away from him, a barely noticeable blush graced her face.

"Got up too fast." She mumbled looking away, quite embarrassed.

Moments of awkward silence passed by before she chose to speak again.

"So…how exactly am _I_ going to get out of here. I don't exactly have enough chakra to scale a wall."

Her thoughts began to trail off again. Looking at Deidara she fumed a little inside. _This little asshole cause me over two months of a coma! But now he's trying to save me. So what the hell!_ Deidara stared intently at her as if waiting for a reaction. She just realized she hadn't noticed when Deidara had started talking in the first place.

"Oh-uh-I'm sorry, what?" He sighed as frustration featured itself upon his face.

"I'll just have to carry you, yeah. But you'll have to pay me back."

"For what!"

"Saving you, yeah." He said it as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"More like your paying me back from that coma." She muttered.

"What?"

"Nothing...Deal." She sighed, defeated.

She didn't want to be carried by him. In fact, she didn't even want him to _touch_ her. At all. She was pissed at him. He cause her a two month coma, and was a probable cause for her miscarriage. Oh, pissed was an understatement. He killed her child.

_Why don't you kill him?_ A voice stated in her mind. Oh yes. The idea sounded wonderful, but at the moment, that wasn't exactly an option. Outwardly, she appeared calm and tired, but inside she was beyond fuming. This person right in front of her could have been what took away the happiness that resided inside her stomach. There wasn't an exact answer to what had actually caused the death of her unborn child, but she felt the need to blame. To put it all on someone else but her.

"Okay, so you're going to get on my back. When we get on the window, you'll get off my back, yeah. I'll jump and then you will jump down. I'll catch you so don't worry. I'm afraid that if I jump off with you on my back that I'll most likely drop you, yeah."

She nodded, than looked at his half smaller form.

"Come on, get on, yeah." He was kneeling so she could get on his back, and she reluctantly complied.

Standing up, he bumped Sakura up so that her legs were resting around his waist.

Deidara was a good head or two taller than she was. He was very thin, but as she could feel, also very muscular. Remembering her drugged thoughts vaguely from the bar, she remembered how silky his hair was at the time. It was now brushing against the side of her face, just as soft as she recalled. She snapped out of her trance, and her hatred inside for him started to boil up once again.

"Hold on tight, yeah." He began to walk sideways up the wall, and realized that if she didn't do as told, she would most likely fall and bust her head open on the hard concrete floor. She tightened her grip around his neck and waist, feeling gravity trying to push her down.

She was using all of her strength just to _hold on_. Her muscles were shaky from lack of energy and she was weary from chakra depletion.

As they made it to the top, he awkwardly sat her on the wide, brick windowsill and stealthily jumped down. He turned up to face her, making motion for her to jump. She was anxious. What if he didn't catch her?

She closed her eyes and took her chances.

The rush of cool air blowing against her skin was exhilarating, she felt a rush. She then felt two strong arms holding her firmly.

He put her down. "Can you run?"

She looked almost annoyed. "Probably not fast."

"Hey you!" The heard a voice to their right. Sakura turned wide eyed.

"Well, guess I'll just have to carry you some more, huh?"

A group of men began to pursue them. Annoyance showed on Deidara's face as he quickly threw her on his back, to where she was originally.

The men were pretty fast and had been trailing them for a mile now.

"Ow!" Sakura whined. Something had pricked her lower back. Turning her head, she saw a senbon needle that reminded her of Genma.

_Shit._

"Deidara, if you don't want to be under some anesthetics than you better escape now, or blow them up."

He smirked and she immediately knew his answer was the latter. His arm lowered grabbing some clay out of his pack as Sakura fought off sleep the senbon plagued her with. Within seconds later, there was a big explosion behind them. She looked at red flare and then the smoke that soon came after it. It was amazing.

Deidara had too taken a look back and on his face was a genuine smile at the art he had just created.

* * *

Sakura had woken up warm. She could hear the pops of what it sounded like fire. Groggily, she opened her eyes and looked around.

There was in fact a fire in front of her, and she welcomed greedily the warmth it was providing. She was in a small opening in the woods, she concluded. Pushing herself up, she still felt very lethargic. To her left, much to her dismay, was Deidara. His back was to a tree, arms crossed around his torso as he sat Indian style. His eyes were closed, but she could tell he was not sleeping.

"There's fish on that rag if you're hungry." His hand motioned to his right, where a green cloth lay on the ground with a cooked piece of fish, eyes yet to open. She reached for the fish, picking it up she smelt it as if it were some foreign object. Slowly, she took a small bit to find it was actually not all bad. She took a bigger bit this time and before she knew it, the fish was gone.

Looking at Deidara's stature, she glared lightly. She didn't like this back and forth feeling she was getting from being around him. She hated him so, so much yet she could feel such at ease around him.

"Glaring's not good for the health, yeah." She was taken aback and scowled. How did he know she was looking at him? She then remembered his scope and bet it was able to see through the bangs that concealed it.

Her focus now, was on the fire.

Her thoughts had only one popular subject running through her head, that subject being Deidara.

She then found her face grimacing at the fire at the thought of his name. Why was he being so good to her? First, he saved her from that hell hole. Second…he helped her get away. And third, he set up a camp with a fire and had gotten her food.

Something wasn't right. There had to be some kind of catch.

"What's wrong with you." Her voice was bitter, the sentence more of a statement. Telling him that there _was_ in fact something wrong with him.

"What do you mean, yeah." She could hear fatigue through his words.

"Why have you been so helpful to me?"

He sighed, opening his eyes. A few minutes passed as he looked at the fire. His gaze shifted over to her as she stared intently at him, a slight frown on her features.

"I already told you that I wasn't going to repeat myself."

Her frown turned into a light glare. He studied her momentarily before staring back at the fire in front of him.

She recalled him saying that he wanted her alive to finish their fight and he thought that following her to that place would spike as interesting.

"What are you doing away from the Akatsuki right now? Isn't there a great war that you guys are about to release?"

He sighed.

"I had to relay some information to some people of the Akatsuki alliance, yeah. Why aren't you at Konoha preparing for the war?"

She sighed this time.

"I'm technically on a mission."

A brow raised as he turned his attention to her.

"One that requires getting drugged and captured by random Rain nin?"

She made a face at him.

"No. My mission is to stay alive. I'm not allowed to participate in the war. Direct orders from Tsunade-sama."

He looked carefully at her.

"So you're taking refuge. I don't see why, yeah. You seem pretty capable to me to be able to stay alive in a war." He smirked, "Not against me though, yeah." He joked.

How could they just be conversating as if they weren't enemies. She felt as if she should run to Tsunade to tell her everything that happened and everything said in the conversation, but something told her to not do so.

"I wanted to partake in the war. And maybe _accidently_ kill Sasuke." She mumbled the last part.

"Huh? Didn't hear the last part, yeah."

"It was nothing."

They dropped into an almost comfortable silence.

She found this insane to be happening. Here she was sitting with an Akatsuki member around a fucking camp fire nonetheless. Something told her that she should be afraid, that she should have killed him already. A deep fire inside her boiled to want to slit his throat, but something else felt like she just wanted to get to know him. Sitting here around the fire, she could see that he was just a regular man caught in between strained ideals. She read his record and remembered it well. He didn't join the Akatsuki on his own will, she had read. He was just another human being. That she possibly wanted to kill.

"When is the war going to start, Deidara…" Her face softened for the moment, thinking about everyone back home.

"Most likely…this January. Depends on how Leader-sama's PMS of world domination treats him over the next view months."

Sakura's knees were brought to her chest, head resting on her knees and arms wrapped around her legs. She stared in the depth of the red in the fire.

_This January. I'm glad people will have more time to live out their lives…_She began to think about all the innocent people that were going to die. Especially children and what about the pregnant women?

_Pregnant._

She shot Deidara a glare.

"You and your glares are starting to piss me off, yeah. You're starting to remind me of a certain impassive man I know. And he _pisses_ me off."

Deidara himself had no idea what he had done wrong to the women to receive such glares every few minutes. He did save her life after all. Maybe she was asking for her death bed? He didn't know and he didn't exactly care to find out.

Sakura must have been glaring more often and more noticeably then she thought she was.

She would only do it when she'd seen his open eye focused on something else. Was his scope eye like a googily eye? She mused over the thought and found herself letting out a giggle.

"What now, yeah? First glares, now giggles? You one of those mood-swingy women?" She ignored him.

As more time passed by she began to grow tired again. She also noticed that she started to notice a certain blonde sitting against a tree.

Looking at his features, she didn't really know how she could have mistook him as a woman at the bar. His jaw line was very masculine, of course. He was like what…twenty something? He was well through with puberty and these were the results.

His eyes were a nice blue color. They held a depth she had not yet witnessed before. Her eyes began to trail down his body. It was funny how every time they met, he never had his Akatsuki cloak. Nevertheless, her eyes focused on the obviously toned muscles that hid under his casual mesh and black shirt. When her eyes trailed down even further, she furiously fought a blush off while looking away. She felt like she was Hinata at the moment.

Deidara just smirked. He knew she was watching him the whole time and he was amused by this. Looking over at her, she was turned away, looking flustered. He knew for sure that if it weren't for the purple bruises on her face, she would be blushing a nice red. Though…he didn't quite get her. One second she was calm and collected, maybe even polite, but the next she was sending cold glares constantly his way. Her expression leaked out her thoughts though, it usually she looked like she was thinking of ways to kill him! He just didn't get the woman. What did _he_ do for her to act such a way around him? Sure they had fought, but it was necessary at the time.

Deidara hadn't minded saving her because it was on the way to the base anyways. Anything to stay away from that base longer, he accepted with welcoming arms. They were in Amegakure, so it wasn't like she was inconveniencing him, but what was her problem?

Sakura turned her flustered face back towards the fire and cleared her voice. "So you go back to your base and I go where ever and we act as if this never had happened?"

"That's what I'm thinking, yeah." She nodded.

His smirk was still in place and there was still that flustered look on Sakura's face.

Sakura ended up laying back down, the fatigue hitting her and falling asleep. Deidara followed suit.

* * *

The morning came by fast and he woke up before her. The fire had died out and she lay there, eyes closed looking frail. "Well kunoichi, I hope we'll be seeing eachother soon. No, I know we will, yeah." He murmured, a smirk growing.

Shoving his hands in his clay bags, he began to mold his flying bird.

* * *

Sakura awoke with the rays of sun hitting her eyes. She remembered she was back in the forest with Deidara. Looking around, she didn't see him. _Maybe it was all just a dream?_

Sitting up, she felt her lower back to feel the puncture of one of the senbons from last night. _Definitely not a dream, so he must have left already. _

She saw the fire he had made last night was now just ashes. There was a rag by the tree she remembered him leaning against. Crawling over, she picked it up and looked at it. It was a small black cloth to show as if he had been there. She smelled it.

It smelled just like him.

She smiled. Then fumed with killing intent. It was a back and forth thing with her. She didn't know what to feel towards him.

Gratitude for saving her or hatred for killing a part of her? She wasn't sure, it was giving her a constant head ache.

_He __**helped**__ me. _She thought. His reasoning's didn't make any sense, but decided to not go too further deep in the subject.

She could feel that a lot of her chakra had been restored and she was feeling much better than the few days in the prison cell like room. Summoning up her medical powers, she began to heal her cut up arms. Poking her cheek, she remembered her cheek bones were bruised. Frowning, she began to heal her face.

Getting up, her legs shook the slightest from misuse.

She was screwed. She had no food, no clothes, no anything since she'd been kidnapped. The only money she had was the amount she shoved in her bra and she was sure that it couldn't have been that much.

Looking down her chest she picked the money out of her shirt. Counting it up, it was a few thousand dollars. She didn't know why Tsunade gave her all hundreds and fifties.

Sighing, she knew it wouldn't last that long, so she was going to have to limit the amount she spent until she could possibly find something that paid.

Deciding to look for a city, she began a slow jog pace. She had no idea where she was at from being taken then rescued by Deidara.

After a half hour of jogging, she found a well-off industrial city. It had big buildings and towers of smoke.

The sky was held a dark gray tint from the clouds.

She walked into a restaurant and asked the greeter where she was.

"You're at Amegakure…" She gave her a weird look, eye brow raised in suspicion.

Sakura ran out of the restaurant.

_Fuck, fuck, fuck! Amegakure is where the Akatsuki base is located. This is the most terrible situation I could get myself into. _She came into a realization though…when people come to Amegakure, you're monitored very closely for your stay, so why wasn't she being monitored? Quickly, she took her Konoha hitai-ate and hid it. She surely would be found out if anybody recognized that.

She sighed, deep in thought until a hard clothed object invaded her face.

What Sakura wanted to say was 'Jeeze, watch out where you're going jackass.' But when she met pink eyes, white hair, and a red and black cloak she was speechless.

"Hey, bitch! Watch where the fuck you're going. Hey…do I know you from somewhere babe? You remind me of a slut I met one time." He wore a suggestive smirk.

She was beyond irked. Her eye brow twitched and her fists were clenched. If not from her gloves, blood would most likely be drawing. Though, this was a bad situation, to run into an Akatsuki member. She would just have to play her cards right.

"I'm sorry sir! Excuse me!" Pretending not to know him, she walking around him.

She could hear her heart pounding in her ears from being so close to the Akatsuki member. She did her research on him and knew he was a complete masochist and how he worshiped his lord Jashin and all the details with that. She didn't know how he was still alive! He was supposed to be dead.

"Heh, whatever, like I give a fuck!" She heard him mumble.

Sakura needed to get out of here as fast as possible before she ran into any other Akatsuki members that might ask who she is.

The air was damp and it got on her nerves, making her hair stick to the back of her neck.

Many people gave her strange looks and she started to feel perturbed. She couldn't tell which way was east or which way was west. The clouds covered the sun here making it hard to tell directions.

If she were able to find which way was south west, then she'd be fine. Originally, Sakura was going to visit Suna and wish them luck in the war.

In this town, she felt very conspicuous. Everyone's clothes were darker, and most everyone had dark hair, too. But Sakura had red clothing and pink hair. Very vibrant.

She sighed again. She would have to ask someone for directions. Walking around this big, industrialized town, she felt extremely lost. Most everything and everyone looked the same.

_This town is boring, yet very scary._ She thought, biting her lip.

Finding a young man around her age, she walked up to him. He was very plain. Dark brown hair, dull green eyes, about five foot eight with plain clothing.

"Excuse me, but could you tell me which way is south west?" Fluttering her eyelashes, she tried to be as charming as possible.

The young man blushed lightly. "Uh…Y-Yeah. It's that way." He pointed in the direction behind her.

"Thank you!" She winked at him before running off. He was blushing profusely now, watching Sakura run off.

_It worked! Easier than I thought. _Sakura nearly jumped up in joy.

Hopefully she would be out of here in no time. She felt very anxious being in the city that planned to attack Konoha this winter. Looking up, her attention went to the tallest tower. It was daunting. She felt an eerie essence coming from it, sending shivers down her spine.

Turning her direction back to the side walk, she saw Deidara walking onto a different street with another Akatsuki member. He was tall and blue, if she could remember his name correctly, it was Kisame Hi- something.

Immediately Sakura tried to mask her chakra to try to keep either of them noticing. She turned her head the other direction trying to avoid any confrontation.

This didn't keep Deidara from noticing though. The second she was close enough, before she had seen them, he felt her chakra. _Guess I was right when I said we'd be seeing each other soon._ He sarcastically thought.

"Kisame, yeah, I'll be at the base shortly. I've got a few things to do." Kisame nodded and Deidara was on his way to find the kunoichi.

Walking past a dark alley, she was pulled in. She about screamed until a hand covered her mouth, the other arm wrapped around her waist holding her close to him. This person was behind her, but she knew who it was from the way they smelled. So good.

_Get that thought out of my head!_ She chided.

"Don't scream Sakura, I'm not going to hurt you, yeah." His voice soothed her squirming.

She stopped her struggling and realized how close she was to him, her backside touched his front, and blushed liberally. His grip on her loosened and her turned her around, putting her back on the wall facing him. One hand held its place on the wall of the building behind her, as he leaned down, eye leveled with her.

"What the _hell_ are you doing here, yeah? Are you trying to get killed?" His voice was calm, but his eyes demanded answers.

"I was just on my way to Suna. I don't know how I got here, I just ran."

He sighed. "You need to hide your chakra better. If you keep leaking it out freely than you're going to get noticed by people you don't want to deal with, yeah"

Sakura blushed. For two reasons. One, she was embarrassed that she had walked around blindly with her chakra leaking out until she had actually seen Akatsuki. And two, how close his face was from hers. She was thankful for the darkness in the alley, for it most likely hid her blush.

"I'm sorry. I don't understand though! Why do you continue to help me out? It's not right Deidara. You should have just killed me that time in the opening. It would have been better that way." She didn't mean for the last part to slip out, but it did.

He sighed. "Sakura, just thank me and get over with it, yeah. You should be glad I haven't killed you, or let anyone else notice you." He frowned, almost glared. Looking at her, he noticed that most of her cuts and bruises were gone. She looked way better than the last he'd seen of her.

At this moment, she wanted to kiss him passionately. Yet she wanted to punch him in the face. She wanted to break his bones. It was infuriating how he could make her feel such two different emotions at the same time.

"Sakura!" He shoulders were being shook.

Snapping out of her thoughts, she was met with blue eyes inches away from her face.

"Y-yeah?" Flustered, she chastised herself mentally.

"You need to get out of here, and now. Akatsuki are freely walking around and you don't want to walk into the wrong person, yeah."

"I already ran into Hidan." She mumbled.

"He's dense so you got lucky there, but if you run into someone like" His face twisted into a face of hate, but was gone as soon as it came, "Itachi, than you're done for, yeah."

"I know that."

"Listen, I'll fly you to Suna. I'm not even supposed to be back yet, yeah. I know Kisame won't say anything either."

She stared.

Her fly on his bird?

She didn't know what to say. He was crazy, she knew that much for sure.

"Well, yeah?"

She nodded her head.

"Okay, we'll have to wait till we get out of the main city, yeah. Now follow me."

_Wait. What? I'm about to get on a bird with a complete enemy that if anyone found out about, I'll be dead. Should I trust him, or is he just lying through his teeth?_

_**He's helped you before. Obviously he's only trying to save you again. **_Another voice in her head spoke.

_True._ She thought back, and yet she couldn't shake this uneasy feeling she had in the pit of her stomach. She felt she had a long journey ahead of her, that being her life. Just then she realized she'd spaced out and Deidara was getting impatient. That's when he grabbed her wrist and she felt something wet slide across, then nip her skin. She yelped.

"What?"

"You just…you bit me!"

He grinned huge and laughed, "Sorry! I can't always control what my hands do, yeah."

A huge blush formed her face as they ran through the dark alley. She began to think about other things the mouths on his hands could be capable of. Smacking her forehead, she shook the thoughts out of her head.

The dark alley just happened to be a dark passageway throughout the whole city. They ran for a good couple of minutes until they had finally reached foliage. Letting go of her wrist, his hands went into his pouches grabbing his clay. They waited a few minutes waiting for his hands to make a big enough bird for two. A little bird slid out of the mouth on his hand and he threw it on the ground.

It expanded into one huge bird and he automatically, out of habit, jumped on his bird without a thought. Sakura stood there, looking at the massive bird. He grinned. She was amazed at _his_ art.

He knelt down on the bird, holding an arm out to her.

"Come on, yeah."

Absentmindedly, she reached for his hand, eyes still on his bird. She felt as if she were in a trance, feeling as if she was just doing stuff and not really there.

He sat on his bird, his legs criss crossed. "Now if you're planning on not falling, you'll have to hold on to me."

Sakura began to wonder how every time she was with him, there involved her having to touch him.

Nodding, she opened her legs, them on the sides of his thighs, and wrapped her arms around his waist.

She had always wondered how it had been like flying on his bird, in the open sky with the wind blowing in your face.

She yelped a little as the bird flapped its large wings, going nearly straight up. Tightening her grip around him, she couldn't see the smirk of amusement on his face from her surprised reactions. She found that the upper atmosphere was actually very much colder than down on the ground, especially since winter was cold wind gave her goose bumps on her exposed arms and legs, so she unconsciously accepted and tried stealing some of the blonde's body heat. Her head rested on his back that protected her face from the wind and slowly, she began to fall asleep, comfortable against the criminal.

Deidara decided, liked this side of the pinkette.

* * *

When Sakura woke up, it was in the heat of the sun. Immediately, she remembered who she was with, wishing it was all just a dream. She noticed they weren't flying, but she had unconsciously not let go of holding on to Deidara. She felt her face flush, but quickly dismissed it, letting go of him.

"You really had a hold on there, yeah." He teased.

"Whatever." She mumbled, half awake. She wiped her eyes in a childishly way, trying to wake herself up.

They were in the desert, far enough away from Suna.

The sun was setting, making a beautiful scene and gagging, she realized it was nearly romantic as she sat with the man on the bird. Though excluding the embarrassing moment waking up, was glad for the few hours of sleep, seeing as she got little the night before from being uneasy of having an Akatsuki member right next to her.

_But wait…_ She thought. _I just fell asleep __**on**__ one._ She reminded herself. Anger fumed inside her, bubbling, wanting so much to just pop. She couldn't believe she had just fallen asleep on him like that.

She chastised herself for always letting her guard down around him. That was one of the most dangerous things to do, no matter how many times he'd save her life or helped her out. He was still the dangerous criminal that was going to be attacking her home in the winter. Though, her anger quickly diminished as she looked back at the sunset calming her.

"Thank you." She muttered.

"Huh?"

"I _said_ thank you." She strained.

"No problem, yeah." He ignored the way she said it. _Probably just PMS._ He assumed.

She stood up on his bird, as he did and asked him which way was west. He pointed, telling her it was only a few miles from where they were. "You should be able to make it by nightfall, yeah."

She rounded up the courage and hugged him. She had no idea why, but in the past few days she almost, key word, almost, felt like she owed him a bit.

He was slightly surprised, but hugged her back.

"I really mean it. When I said thank you, I meant for saving me from those guys, from Amegakure, and taking me here." He fitted a crooked smiled that just looked so perfect on him.

To him, it really was not a big deal. He hadn't been getting as much missions as he'd like since the war was drawing in, so he need something to her, he smelled so good. And that's when she realized how bad she probably smelled. Though it wasn't like she was trying to impress anybody at the moment, so she didn't really care.

That's when she'd done it. _She_, this time, _herself, _had crossed the line. The crooked smiled he laid on her hadn't help much more than to tempt her more into doing what she did. Slowly, she had slid her arms away from his torso to around his neck and planted a soft kiss on him. He was utterly surprised at the turn of events but went with the flow after a few seconds of unsure surprise and confusion passed by. Wrapping his arms around her waist, he pulled her closer to him, deepening the kiss. His tongue slid against the bottom of her lips and she complied to his offer. She had not understood why she did this, and Deidara had no idea really why he was responding to her.

Her brain was clouded and confused. She _was_ in fact enjoying this. In a way, she felt an attachment to Deidara even only after one night. He'd saved her from probable death and yet again he saved her from the eyes of the Akatsuki. This was her strange way of thanking him, she felt.

Those were the thoughts that floated around her head before her common sense slowly came crawling back.

Slowly she pushed him away, feeling awkward.

"Uh-umm...T-thanks." She stuttered, not sure what she was supposed to say at a moment like this. It's not like things like this happened everyday. With one last glance at his sunset lit face, she jumped off his clay bird feeling like she had made a terrible mistake letting her hormones or _something_ take over her like that. She had tried for something like this to not happen. Furious with herself, she began to add more chakra to her feet, making her speed double as she fled from the man that just stood wide eyed at her.

* * *

_"For it was not into my ear you whispered, but into my heart. It was not my lips you kissed, but my soul."_  
_Judy Garland_

**A/N:** Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. There was practically not much angst in this chapter :) And there was some Sakura/Deidara at the end. I enjoyed writing so let me know if you enjoyed reading by leaving a...

**REVIEW**:)


	5. As the Years go by

**A/N: **Okay, So this chapter is a little bit shorter than all the past ones, but it's to get things going. It's a little more of a filler, but you must read this to know what happens and all the drama. I hope you all like and review._ Sorry_ if my updates start to get a little more spread out, I'm also working on another fanfic at the moment called Blindsided, which those chapters will most definitely be coming later as well. Sorry for the long authors note, I try to keep them short. **By the way;** If you are curious to know what the Hishoko's first names mean, than be sure to look at the authors note at the bottom. Thank You!

**Chapter Five: As the Years go by  
**

* * *

On her run, all she could think about was what she had done. Insane. She was going insane she concluded.

Sakura made it to the Suna gates a little after sundown extremely exhausted.

"State your name, village and reason for being here!" She heard a guard yell from a distance.

"Sakura Haruno, Konoha and to see some friends." Sakura yelled back.

After a few seconds of glances and nods of heads, the guards moved out of her way and opened the gates for her. Walking in, she couldn't wait to see her 'best-Suna-friend', Temari. Over the years, they had grown a weird friendship, so they would visit eachother every now and then to catch up.

She also wanted to wish the Kazekage, Garaa, good luck in the war. After his bijuu extraction, he was actually able to sleep without worrying about Shukaku coming out.

Looking around, she finally found the Kazekage's building, which was heavily guarded. Some of them let her through willingly, but others were giving her a hard time.

"Sakura! Is that you?" She heard a voice behind her and saw a sweaty just trained Temari.

"Temari!" She ran up to her taller-then-her blonde friend and hugged her.

"How have you been?" A huge smile held its place on Temari's face.

She walked Sakura down the hall chit-chatting and she gave the guards a childish face, sticking her tongue out at them.

"I just came here to wish you all luck in the war coming up. I'm not going to be taking place in this war, direct orders from the Hokage."

"What!" Temari looked at her, astonished. "That's insane! You're one of the best ninja I know!" Sakura blushed lightly and thanked her.

"I see you're pretty beaten up there too."

Sakura laughed nervously. "Yeah, on my way here I killed a man who tried to kill me in my sleep, got kidnapped, tortured and interrogated, and ran into a few Akatsuki members. But I'm alive so that's all that matters."

Temari's mouth practically dropped to the floor. The only reason she actually told Temari all of this because she knew she would see through any lies.

"No fucking way! Are you okay?" Sakura laughed.

"Surprisingly, I'm just fine!" Temari eyed her hard, then relaxed seeing she was telling the truth.

"Well, I'm glad you're okay."

Sakura smiled, "Hey Temari?" She laughed nervously, "Do you think I could take a shower?"

Temari looked at her, "Oh of course! You can come sleep with me! I haven't had a girl over in forever, you know? There's so many guys here."

Sakura laughed at Temari. She may have seemed very indifferent around everyone in public, but she had always been open with Sakura.

"Lets go let Garaa know that you'll be staying here. How long are you staying here, by the way?"

Sakura shrugged, "Not long probably." Temari looked at her with pleading eyes, and at that moment she knew that she wanted her to stay for awhile.

"Please." Stretching out the word, Temari looked at her with puppy dog eyes.

Sakura sighed in early defeat, "Fine." Temari wouldn't let up until Sakura agreed anyways.

Automatically, her sad face went away and was replaced with a smile. "Thank you Sakura!"

"Anything for you." She muttered sarcastically.

Temari opened the door to Garaa's office and he looked up from his paper work. Garaa had changed a little since Shikaku had been extracted. The deep rings around his eyes had slowly started to fade and he looked a lot less pale and...well, scary.

"Yes, Temari?"

"Sakura came to visit us and she'll be staying for a little bit to keep me company." She smiled.

"Shouldn't she be in Konoha, preparing for the war?"

Before Temari could say anything, Sakura began explaining.

"Tsunade-same has decided to remove me from the war so I have been told to leave Konoha and I came here to wish everyone luck." She bowed.

"Sakura, no need to be so uptight around Garaa. You know us!" Temari chided.

Garaa nodded towards Sakura.

"Well, that's a shame. We could have used a good fighter like you."

"Thank you!"

"Come on Sakura, let's go! We both need showers!" Temari grabbed her arm, pulling her out of the office.

* * *

Now squeaky clean, Sakura and Temari sat in her bed catching up.

"I knew there was something going on between you and Shikamaru!" Temari blushed.

Turns out that Temari had liked Shikamaru since the chunin exams. She didn't doubt it at all. She'd seen the way she'd look at him. And now, they were secretly dating. As Shikamaru stated, 'It would be troublesome.' Talking about Ino teasing him.

"In fact…he's supposed to be coming over tomorrow to see me too."

She smiled, "I'll give you two love birds some time alone." Sakura winked suggestively and Temari blushed profanely, lightly smacking her arm.

After Sakura told Temari about everything about Sasuke and the pregnancy, she hugged Sakura. They were sitting on the bed and Temari had jumped over to Sakura on top of her hugging her. She told her that she was sorry for her loss and how she never liked Sasuke anyways. "You deserve a real man anyways. He's a stupid chicken-butt haired ass hole."

Sakura held in her tears, laughing at Temari. Temari was practically craddling her, but really, Sakura didn't mind. She figured she had probably fallen asleep on her. It wasn't the first time!

Inwardly she laughed and closed her eyes taking sleep.

* * *

In her dreams, the scene between her and Deidara played over, and over, and over. Like torture. It was pissing her off to have to see the wrong she'd done.

When Sakura woke up, it was with a jerk from when she was about to jump off the clay bird in her dreams. There was something heavy laying across her stomach, or more accurately, someone. Propping herself up, she looked down to see a still very much asleep Temari sleeping on her. Temari had a habit of snuggling to whatever was in her bed, whether a pillow or person. It was like natural for her. Smiling, she sighed at the older girl, feeling bad for her having to be around men all the time.

The door to Temari's room opened just then to see Kankuro.

Now…if you were him, the way they were laying looked very inappropriate when in fact there was no sexual relationship there. Temari's head rested itself on Sakura's small bosom and arms wrapped around her body, whilst the covers hid most of their body's.

"It's not what it looks like." Sakura didn't even bother trying to explain. Kankuro just nodded his head, eyes wide, and slowly closed the door.

Sakura began laughing. Kankuro thought there was something going on she knew. _Ahh, Temari'll get a kick out of this one._

Just as said, Temari stirred in her sleep beginning to slowly wake up.

"What were you laughing about?" Temari grumbled, wiping her eyes.

"I think Kankuro thinks me and you are _together_ or if anything fuck-buddies." Temari didn't react all crazy. In fact she smiled, then broke down laughing.

"Let him think that. I can fuck around with him now that he thinks that. Though that involves fake flirting with you of course."

Sakura made a hurt face, "Fake flirting Temari? I see how you think of me now." She joked.

She waved Sakura's comment away with her hand.

"What was his face like?" A sly smile held its place on her face.

"Well, bulgy eyes, open mouth and slow reactions." She imitated his face, "He was surprised alright."

They both laughed.

"Let go get some breakfast, hun."

* * *

All throughout breakfast, Temari had been sending her suggestive glances and winks where as Kankuro was totally freaked out and Garaa just gave a rise of an eyebrow.

Sakura was giggling to herself. Kankuro was completely hooked, lined, and sunk.

When their food was done with, Sakura and Temari got up. Sakura was walking in front of Temari by just a little bit, so Temari decided to screw with her brother. She grabbed Sakura's ass. Letting out a yelp of surprise, she looked at Temari with a face and the blonde's face was red as can be, looking as if she were about to burst out laughing.

Looking back she saw Kankuro passed out on the ground with a confused looking Garaa.

* * *

Later that day Shikamaru arrived and was surprised, to say the least, that Sakura was there.

"I'll just leave you two alone." Sakura winked at Temari.

Sakura decided to take a look around the village. It was around twelve, so it was burning up with the sun right starting to rise to the middle of the sky.

Suna was a pretty plain city, but there was more than meets the eye, she remembered Temari telling her one time. There were a lot of different medical herbs, clothing shops, and foods. God, the foods. They had some of the best out there.

After aimlessly walking around for two hours, Sakura decided she needed some cash that she had left in Temari's room.

Walking up the stairs to the building, guards letting her pass(some more bitter than the others), she walked down the hall looking for Temari's room. Finding it, she opened the door to see a naked Temari riding an also naked Shikamaru while letting out an incredibly loud moan. Sakura's jaw dropped. Feeling the cool air conditioner of the hallway breezing in, Temari turned around, her boobs going along with her to see Sakura. She began laughing, most likely at her facial expressions, not caring _at all_ that she had intruded on a very private moment. Slowly, Sakura turned around and shut the door behind her, now feeling like Kankuro did this morning. Accept scarred for life.

"All I needed was my money, that's all I needed." Sakura chanted to herself, sounding crazy as walked down the hallway to find the Kazekage's office. She knocked twice, still zoned out.

"Come in."

She did as said and stared blankly at Garaa. "Do you have any money? I'll pay you back when I can get the money out of Temari's room."

"What's wrong?" He asked seeing Sakura so dazed.

"You don't wanna know." Garaa nodded, and she was probably right. If he heard about the incident he'd probably hunt Shikamaru down and kill him.

He opened a drawer and pulled out some cash.

"Here. You don't need to pay me back. Think of it as not even half of my thanks for saving Kankuro a few years back." She walked to the desk and picked up the cash.

"Thank you." Her words were lost in her ears.

Garaa would have to ask Temari what happened some time.

* * *

Walking down the streets, she had finally been able to shake the image of what she walked in on. A hot and sweaty naked Temari on top of a hot and sweaty Shikamaru.

"Gross!" She yelled, shaking her head trying to get the images out of her head. Many people surrounding her gave her weird looks, but continued their daily shopping. Embarrassed, Sakura began to walk down the chains of stands and indoor stores looking at everything.

Walking around, she found the same herb stand and decided to look at some herbs. Who knows, she could use some on her long trip.

"Hello dear, can I help you with anything?" An old woman looked at Sakura, who was interested in her plants.

"Yes, could you tell me which herbs do what please?"

"Sure thing hunny." And so she began pointing to different herbs, "This one helps cure stomach aches. This one, you put it in your tea and it makes you feel regenerated. Oh, and this one right here gives you a lot of strength. It's very bitter, but worth it. That one right there helps cancel out poisons it you rub it around the designated area. The red-ish one right there will put anyone to sleep within minutes." The lady continued on.

"Well, I'll get the one that makes you feel regenerated, the one that's gives you a lot of strength, the one that extracts poisons, the anesthetic, the one that makes people feel very heavy, the one that restores your chakra," Sakura continued on. She hoped she had enough money, she hadn't exactly looked at the amount that Garaa gave her, but she was sure he couldn't have been too stingy.

The old women got many tiny glass containers that would hold each herb. She'd gotten five of each.

"That would be a total of two-hundred and sixty-two dollars." She looked at her cash. She had eight-hundred. At the moment, she could say she loved Garaa for this.

Handing her the correct amount, she bagged up Sakura's items and wished her a fine day.

Sakura found a clothing store. Since the kidnapping, all of her stuff had been taken. She needed some clothing. Luckily, even though it felt like hell outside, people still wore clothing that covered up most of their body which would be good for when Sakura left since winter was coming around the corner. She bought some nice clothing that was just perfect for winter.

After shopping for clothes, she went to stock up on ninja supplies. She'd gotten some more ninja pouches, some wrappings, kunai, shuriken and so on. By now, Sakura was walking back to her shared room with the blond, caring five bags. She put her ear by the door to hear for any moaning. None.

She walked in to see Temari on the bed, cleaning her fan.

Sakura immediately blushed. "I'm sorry about earlier."

Temari laughed. "Don't worry about it. It actually got Shikamaru to blush, which is a weird sight to see."

Sakura nodded, still embarrassed and always will be no matter what Temari said.

Sitting down in the chair, she decided she wanted to sharpen her katana. Summoning chakra to her arm and hand, she slowly pulled out her katana light shining.

"Girl! How'd you do that?"

She blushed. "It's something Kakashi, Naruto, and Sai got me as a present. Kakashi told me how to do it."

Temari nodded, "Well that's cool. The design is very pretty"

Sakura acknowledged what she was saying by nodding her head.

_It really is, huh?_ She thought.

Taking the katana out of its sheath, she went into her shopping bag and pull out a blade sharpener. She began to graze the blade and it looked beautiful.

She hadn't noticed before, but there was a cherry blossom design on the metal. You wouldn't be able to notice it unless you looked extremely close. It was beautiful, she had thought.

After sharpening it, she put it back into her arm.

"By the way Sakura…When did you manage to become ANBU? Hmm?" A sly smile slid on Temari's face.

"The same day I found out I was pregnant."

"Well isn't that ironic." She nodded.

Sakura had to admit, having that tattoo on her arm looked pretty cool, and then there was the kanji mark that said _Sakura_ on her other arm.

Sighing, she was tired and decided to crawl up on Temari's bed, playfully shoving her to the other side, laying down taking a nap.

* * *

It was Sakura's time to leave. She had stayed at Suna for three weeks now and Temari had finally let her take her leave reluctantly, saying that she hadn't stayed long at all.

Sakura almost cried, she wished everybody luck in the war and told them to stay alive for her.

So here she was, running across the Suna desert.

She had all of her ninja supplies back, her pouches were filled with kunai and shuriken, while another specially made one held all of the herbs she had bought.

While there, Sakura had fun. She got to spend some girl time with Temari, visit Lady Chio's grave, and got all of the stuff she needed. Oh yes, she enjoyed her stay.

It was early morning so the sun hadn't quite rose yet. The desert was fairly warm and it wasn't going to stay that way for long.

Two hours later she was just about out of the Wind's boarders. Sakura was heading for the Land of Birds. It was a fairly neutral country and Sakura was sure she could reside there for a little while. Though when time came, she would have to retreat to foreign land, as the war would surely reach all countries.

As soon as she passed the Suna boarders, she began to jog, then walk, and then she decided to sit. She was exhausted from running , only stopping for water breaks. She would have to make camp here for tonight, as it would take another couple of hours till she reached where she was going.

After she'd gathered all the fire wood, she used her affinity to light it up. _That's the best about a fire affinity!_ Laying against the tree, everything slowly started to sink in.

She had gotten dumped and pregnant. Put into ANBU. Deidara killed her baby, she was sure on that now and kissed her. Deidara had put her in a coma for over two months. The war sprung up on her, thus making Tsunade send her away. She was almost attacked in her sleep, then kidnapped by Amegakure ninja's and almost died, to be saved by Deidara. She ran into Hidan, she remembered, and then was once again saved by Deidara. She fell asleep on him, and then kissed him.

It seemed that most of the events taken place in the past few months seemed to revolve around him.

Deidara.

Staring into the fire, she punched the tree next to her with all her strength. She was beyond frustrated at this point. For one, she couldn't get the damn man out of her head. Just as she would be distracted, he would pop up in her head like the whack-the-mole game. And every time he popped up, she wasn't sure what to feel. Happy or mad? She didn't know.

Resting her head against the tree, she sighed

* * *

She awoke in the morning with a horrendous back ache. Stretching her muscles, she looked to see her fire had died down. _Thankfully it didn't burn down the whole forest!_ She thought. But she had then realized how cold it was while letting out a shiver.

After fully waking up, she began to run in the sure direction of the Land of Birds.

It had taken her a few hours to get there, but when she did, boy she was glad. Finding a hotel room, she booked a room and surprisingly, it wasn't pricey. She hoped that just because of that factor that it wasn't like the last hotel she'd experienced. Thankfully, she still had the money left over from Garaa and her own from Tsunade.

The people at the Inn were nice and so was her room. It was roach, rust, and stain free. Sighing, she plopped herself on the bed after a long day. _This Inn has a free breakfast! _She giggled, seeing a little sign on a desk in her room, she began imagining all she can eat food.

* * *

That morning, Sakura found herself unattractively stuffing her face. Her plate held that of which ten men could not eat. After running over hundreds of miles without food, she guessed this was making up for it.

She was grateful for the shower she had gotten that morning, being able to wash all the sweat and dirt off to where she felt squeaky clean and was _sure_ she did not smell bad. As well as her teeth, she had gotten a brand-spankin-new tooth brush for which she used for ten minutes to get all of the grudge off. It had taken awhile before she decided whether or not she was presentable.

Today, she decided, she would look around the village. It had turned out to be a very nice, small village where everyone knew everyone as she suspected.

People who didn't know her, also meaning everyone, kept asking her for her name. Little kids would ask her if her hair was real. And men her age would gaze at her as if she were some type of prey to a lion. It was very unnerving.

As the days went by, many people were saying hello to her in the mornings. Asking her how she's been and nice stuff of the sort.

After a few weeks, she began living with a family of five. The mother insisted as did the kids. She'd saved her husband's life from some rouge ninja that were looking for no good.

It was a nice family, she admitted, with a nice home. Their three kids names were Aki Hishoko, the oldest, Yasiko Hishoko, the middle child, and Kaimu Hishoko, the youngest. Two girls, and the youngest was the boy. Aki was twelve, Yasiko was eight, and Kaimu was three and a half.

They all treated her like she was part of their family. Aki was usually always happy, and found ways to get Sakura to play games with her, even if she was busy. Yasiko was the calm one of the bunch. She didn't care much for loud noises or running around screaming things that didn't make sense, such as Aki did. Kaimu was the sweetest little boy she had ever met. All he would want is for someone to hold him, even though as Hiromi would tell her, he was getting too heavy. Then he would pout, while holding his teddy bear in such a demeanor that could make nobody turn him down.

She helped the Hishoko's out as best as she could, to try and not be a burden. Mrs. Hiromi was always kind and would tell her that she's done enough for the family, while her husband, Yoshiaki would just give a nod of his head in her direction. He was usually quiet, but a kind man.

When Hiromi would tell her that she would do whatever business Sakura was doing, she would decline politely, telling her that she could do it. She loved this new family of hers. Though she had not had any brothers nor sisters, she figured this is what it'd be like.

A few years had passed by and she was glad that she was still with her adoptive family, so to say. She'd gotten to see the ways kids change as they get older. Aki was now fifteen. Sakura remembered that age so well. When she'd been so determined to bring Sasuke back. Yasiko was now eleven. At that age, Sakura was a snobby brat that looked down on Naruto. She nearly laughed at the thought of how close they had gotten. Many times, she had wondered how Naruto was doing, but would brush the thought aside. Sakura had the habit of thinking the worst possible scenarios, and she really did not want to have bad thoughts of what could happen in her head. Kaimu was now six and a half. At that age, Sakura had befriended one of her first friends, Ino Yamanaka. She smiled at the thought.

Lately, a lot of rouge ninja's had crawled their way into the Bird Village. Sakura had always been more than capable of taking care of them. She was almost glad that they would come so often. To her, it felt weird not using chakra as often as she'd been used to. The only time she used it is for a scrape or cut on the kids.

This pass year, Sakura had gotten a job at the hospital in town. It was so different from the one she was use to. Nobody had any chakra to heal anyone, so all the patients stayed their twice as long as they would have in Konoha.

The patients Sakura would usually end up extremely surprised, and some unsure, of how she was a med nin.

There weren't any ninja's in the village, and if there were, they were steering clear of Sakura. So it was weird. Some days she would leave to village to go and train to keep her skills up and others, she lived them just as everyone else in the village had.

She had been on quite a few dates as Hiromi ushered her to. They were all nice men, accept for a few pigs, but she hadn't found any of them interesting at all. They weren't her type. And she _really_ tried to find a boyfriend but it was just so hard, she couldn't find the right man.

Inside Sakura knew she was sad and broken, yet to everyone she seemed to hold the perfect façade. She had never cried since that night in her bedroom when she promised herself she wouldn't. This long she had stayed strong. When she would think about the past, she would push it away or just give a faint smile in the memories instead of crying.

Usually, she would go out training on those days where she felt like crying to get her stress out. And usually it would work.

When she was around the kids, they always kept her mind off anything she was thinking about at the moment. They were the best for that and she could honestly say that she loved them.

Though lately Sakura had been thinking about moving out. And by lately, she meant when she turned eighteen, which was two years ago. Hiromi absolutely wouldn't allow it, in the loving motherly way. Every year she would convince Sakura to stay for just one more year.

She was glad they wanted her to stay. She felt needed, truly needed and that was one of the best feelings that had kept her around and sane. People needed her here and as long as they needed her, she would stay.

* * *

Sakura awoke in the morning in cold sweat from having _that_ dream. There were a lot of dreams that would always play in Sakura's head, but this time, it involved a certain dark hair, dark eyed ninja. He sometimes would haunt her in the dream, as he had in her coma. There were different dreams that she would have of him. Some were demented and evil, while others were as if nothing had ever happened and they got married. The latter dream scared her the most and is the one that haunted her at the moment.

Some nights she would wake up shrieking, and Hiromi would come in to check on her as Sakura would tell her it was a bad dream. Often, Hiromi would tell Sakura she had night terrors, which are uncommon in adults, more common in children. Sakura could never remember night terrors, but that was normal she knew. At this point of time she was way over Sasuke. It had been what…nearly four years since they've been over? But just the thought of what could be scared her. They never made her cry, just made her heart race, body perspire and get extremely anxious. She had many other dreams that would haunt her nights, such as what was happening in the war, her friends dying, and all of her fears.

Other dreams would make her wake up in cold sweat as well, though they weren't _scary_. They were embarrassing to say the least and she hoped nobody had noticed her when she had those types of dreams. Sometimes it was with random people, sometimes with girls, and sometimes with Deidara. She blushed as she thought of the many dreams over the three years. She still hated his guts, but anything of the sort made her turn crimson on the spot.

Taking out her picture from her pocket, she looked at the gift. The second team seven, Yamato, Naruto, Sakura, and Sai. Everything looked so serene. Folding it, she put it back in her pocket, getting ready for the day.

Today she had to help make breakfast, helped Hiromi with her garden, helped Kaimu how to read better, and helped Yasuko with her math homework, which by the way, was not easy. And on this day she and Hiromi had to give Aki the _girl talk_. She had gotten her 'gift' or as Sakura liked to call it, a 'curse'. Of course, Sakura being the medical nin she was, could stop it with much effort of course.

Aki's reaction had made Sakura burst in to uncontrollable laughs. She always had been the over reactor of the family. But this just made Sakura's day all the better as she had been slightly down from the dream.

Many weeks went by as Sakura carried on with her usual schedule. The seasons were changing into spring, winter slowly dying away. It had been one of those days where Sakura was just so frustrated she didn't know what to think. She told Hiromi she'd be gone till tonight to go train and as usual, she gave Sakura a kiss on her head and told her to be safe.

Sakura trained for what she knew as hours. Her body began to ache and she was drenched with sweat. Taking a break, she lay on the ground trying to calm her breaths. At this time, the sun was beginning to set and it lit up the sky with oranges and pinks. As she calmed down, she began to smell smoke.

_A fire?_ She thought. Slowly getting up, she stretched before going to look for smoke. There was smoke in the direction of the village, and a lot of it. Quickly running over to the hill, she looked overtop the village petrified at the sight.

When heading to the village, she heard cries of pain. Screeching of women that were on fire, some even were running in the streets and started to roll to try to get the fire to stop from burning them.

The whole village was on fire, like the sun had just sat itself comfortable on the ground. Her legs felt weak as she ran because she was scared. She was scared that all of her friends had died. Making a beeline to her home, she saw it was aflame as well. She went inside and it smelled sickening. The smell of dead, burnt bodies. Heading up the stairs, the fire blocked her way through the hall.

She began to shout everyone's name, listening hard for a response over the crackling fire noises. Hearing nothing, she became fretful. She couldn't reach any of the kids bedrooms of which were on fire. Heading down the stairs as fast as humanly possible, she barely dodged a wooden beam of fire that fell from the ceiling. "Hiromi! Yoshiaki! Where are you!" She screamed.

Running into the living room she was mortified as she saw two black crisp body's on the floor, still burning. She knew there was no way they could be alive. Her eyes went wide as she realized that her family was dead. She ran quickly out of the house dodging more wooden beams as the house began to cave in.

_How could someone manage to burn the whole city down?_ Sakura thought hopeless. Just as things had always been, right as soon as her life was turning out to be good, it went crashing down. _Is this a punishment? What did I do to deserve all of this?_ Sakura was nearing a breaking point. Holding in her tears, she knew they wouldn't solve her problems. They wouldn't bring back the relationship with Sasuke, her dead baby, her dead families, and they most certainly would not stop the war. Crying was worthless to her. It had been three years since a tear had dropped.

She guessed the war had began to spread to even the villages that had nothing to do with anything. Becoming mad she stomped her foot on the ground, making all the burning buildings around her fully destruct.

Looking forward, she ran. And she ran. And she ran. She ran until she had no energy at all and ungracefully passed out on the ground in the forest, not caring she could get hurt.

* * *

Sakura awoke in a bed in a warm room, yet to open her eyes. She had just been thinking through the scary dream she had about the Hishoko family, her family to be correct. It terrified her to think that her mind had come up with that.

Opening her eyes, she saw a wooden ceiling, then propped herself looking around. She began to let herself dread in self pity as she realized her dream was reality. As it looked, she was in a cabin that had a fire crackling with what looked as soup hanging over it. Nobody was home it seemed.

Getting up, she heard someone's voice convince her idea's otherwise.

"I wouldn't get up if I were you. Your body is physically drained of energy, you overworked yourself dear." She turned to the voice.

It was a women around her thirties, maybe forties. She had brown hair tied into a bun with a ribbon and an old fashioned dress.

Sakura tried to speak but ended up coughing.

"It seems you inhaled too much smoke." She paused, "So I wouldn't try to talk if I were you. You need to drink a lot of water." The lady walked over to where she slept and gave her a glass of water.

Sakura grabbed it and slowly brought it up to her lips. Feeling the cool liquid go down made her dry throat feel much better.

She coughed again, trying to clear her throat. "Where am I?" She choked out, her voice raspy.

"Dear, I said you shouldn't talk. Just rest."

"Answer my question." The lady looked almost offended.

"You're outside of the Bird boarders. We're in my cabin." She didn't like this women. She felt she had to get out of there as soon as she could. A dark aura surrounded her and it was disturbing.

"I-I'm sorry, I have to go." Sakura could barely talk, and when she tried, she would cough from the damage of smoke. "Oh dear." The women said as Sakura ran out of her cabin.

Maybe Sakura was just paranoid. She couldn't get this weird feeling out of her mind and the shivers wouldn't stop trembling her spine. It was night outside and quite chilly as she ran through the woods.

She had to get away from the main countries, as far away as possible. She _needed_ to find safe refuge. Somewhere the war would most likely not hit. She hated the thought of being so far away from Konoha, but you got to do what you got to do.

Sakura's journey lasted a couple of weeks. She found a city in an uncharted land that people called Menso. It had a medieval look to it with the walls built of stone, tall and wide.

It was about summer time when she had arrived. The sun heated up the stone ground as people hurriedly continued on with their lives. There had been a lot of poor people that would go after what she could see as the middle class. They would jump out of the shadows, sometimes beating the person senseless or they would be the ones to get shoved off and hurt. There were many stalls around town that sold various things, from watermelons, to shawls, to toy planes.

Passing through, she'd seen some orphans trying to be sneaky and steal some food. They had gotten caught, of course, and the man had started to beat the kids, which is where Sakura jumped in. "Back off, they're just kids you know!" She had said. The man he 'hmphed' and walked off talking about 'pesky little brats that piss him off'. The three orphans had looked at her with scared looks in their eyes, confused. She had smiled and to them to run along.

It filled Sakura with unknown emotion, something she could quite place. She hated seeing orphans and hated people that were cruel to kids, but there wasn't anything she could really do about it, so she kept on the stone path through Menso.

Many people gave her strange looks because of her hair, clothes, and wrappings for her wounds. Like most places she went to, she stood out, like back in Amegakure.

She wasn't exactly sure where she was heading, she was just walking. People here in Menso had never even heard of Konoha! When she'd ask, they would give her a strange look and walk off, saying she was talking nonsense about places that don't even exist.

Another year had passed by. Sakura had stayed in Menso for a few months, before taking refuge in a place further west called Cambsure. She stayed there for a few weeks until they had kicked her out, calling her a witch when she healed a young boy that had nearly died. They screamed, throwing food and stones at her, saying her powers were those of the cursed devil.

Now at this time, Sakura was twenty two years old, traveling through unknown land. The land had many hills and foliage. There were many beautiful water ways and mountains.

Sometimes, Sakura couldn't believe she was here, far away from her friends and family. She had been gone for around four years now, yet not once had she cried. In realization, Sakura realized how strong she was. Not many people would be able to survive everything she'd been through and come out just as she had. She thought that if not much physically, she grew a lot mentally. Even if people wouldn't agree, she knew she'd grown a lot.

Every now and then, she'd take out the picture Sai painted to remind herself of who she was. Sometimes, she couldn't even recognize herself. Anyone that knew Sakura would be able to tell that she had changed. She wasn't exactly the same emotional, sweet girl that everyone use to know, and Sakura was aware of this.

Over the past few years, her hair had grown. Not as long as when she was a kid, but a little past her shoulders.

Sakura was left with no home, no money, no nothing except herself. She had no friends and family anymore. Everything had been taken away from her and yet, she still stood with her chin held high and marched forward.

Right at the moment, she was running through the forest and began to see a light indicating the exit to an opening. She could see the blue sky approaching as well as the mountain view. Slowing down, she began to walk trying to catch her breath. Nearing the edge of the forest, she could see the edge of the cliff, and on that cliff there was somebody sitting. Someone whom she thought she recognized.

The blonde hair that swayed in the cool November wind nearly caught her in a trance. The thin, but she knew was muscular, body that moved slowly from the source that kept them alive made her nearly stop breathing. The thin built arms that kept their body up made her nearly faint. Everything about the being that she remembered made her respond in different ways of surprise. She knew this person, she was sure of it. Her chest felt tight as she never thought the day would come that she'd see someone she knew again.

Her breath caught in her voice, as she tried to say their name.

"Deidara?" her voice cracked and when she saw those blue, blue eyes, she felt her heart drop.

* * *

_Life's a dance you learn as you go, sometimes you lead it, sometimes you follow, don't worry bout what you don't know, life's a dance you learn as you go.  
John Michael Montgomery_

**A/N: **Well, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, here are the names of Sakura's second family; Aki-Bright, Yasuko-peaceful child, Kaimu-Ocean dream, Hiromi-broadminded beauty, Yoshiaki-Bright Justice.**  
Also**, If you didn't read the authors note at the top, I recommend you do.  
_**And**_ if you don't know what **night terror**s are, they are a sleep disruption. You sit up in your sleep with your eyes open, screaming or shouting out. People can cry, sweat, thrash around and act upset. Faster than normal breathing and heart rate occurs as well. People don't remember their night terrors because they are in deep sleep while they occur, and you if you try to console a person having a night terror, they don't acknowledge it. So I just thought I'd let everyone who doesn't know what those are know.  
Thank you!

**Review if you like. :) **


	6. Authors Update

Hello viewers! This is strictly just an authors note/update.

I apologized dearly to anyone who had been following this story when I first published it for I meant to keep up with it but I guess life just swept me off my feet and I broke my laptop (which I just acquired a new one thanks to my brother who works at Best Buy). I did have the next two chapters for this on my last computer so I suppose this is why they invented flash(thumb)-drives. So I will need to rewrite those.

Since I just got a new laptop (a small Samsung Chromebook to be exact) I DO plan on updating and possibly editing this story some. This was my favorite story line, I put so much time into it and I would absolutely love to finish it.

**So Please: **If you are still following this story send me a PM or review and let me know so I can get this back up and running. I _do_ listen to my story followers out there so if you'd have any suggestions or any kind of input/criticism I would be delighted to take into account your opinions. I do also plan on revamping my other story Blindsided, I believe is what it is titled. It is a Sakura/Itachi fic so for you lovers of that couple, feel free to check it out.

I will also be starting some new works so look out for that.

Thanks again so much guys and gals, I love you all!


	7. Long Awaited

**PLEASE READ: A/N: **Alright lovelies! Here's a little taster, I _know_ a lot of you got upset for me just leaving you guys with that horrible cliff hanger for so long and I apologize DEEPLY. I promise! So I went ahead and came up with this, it was somewhat close to what I had originally composed before from what I can remember. I hope you guys and gals enjoy, I know you've been waiting for it!

I am so sorry for the extremely short chapter update, but I figured I'd go ahead and get something out for you all. I went through and read my previous chapters and found the _worst_ mistakes, so I do apologize for all of those and I hope I can write according to the story I've had set up correctly. If I mess something up don't be afraid to send me a message or review.

**Chapter Six: Long Awaited**

* * *

Time seemed to stop when she looked into those bright blue orbs. His hair was flowing with the current of the wind, his cheek bones a light red shade of cool wind burn.

Many emotions were going through Sakura's head. Her heart throbbed and body parts trembled at the familiar face.

She hadn't seen this face in years. She wasn't sure if he had even been living, though this was the case with everyone she knew. For a long time she resented Deidara. She had blamed him for the death of her unborn child and she supposed it was a tad foolish of her to do so. He was doing his job as she was doing hers. As time passed she had realized that it was her fault for the miscarriage. She should have revealed that she was pregnant in the first place so she would not have been sent out on a dangerous mission to start with. Instead, she had blamed anything and everything she could to make herself feel better about her poor judgement and decisions. The miscarriage could have even been from the alcohol she had consumed the night Naruto had tried to comfort her.

A part of her would always be sad that her child was terminated early, but another part had realized that it was probably for the best. She wouldn't have wanted her child to grow up in a broken family environment along with the war that had come upon the nation. She initially was mad with Deidara and held those feelings for a long time and would probably continue to bear those feelings in the back of her head because of that need to put blame on others for the actions, however, she had come to some kind of peace with herself with the events over the years.

Sakura often thought of her friends over the years. She frequently wondered if everyone was doing alright back at home and prayed to whoever was up in the sky that all of her friends and family were still alive. And of course there were the nightmares she'd have involving the Uchiha she had come to despise. However through all of her pondering about her friends, family, and old lovers, she often found herself thinking of the blonde, Deidara. She had been so torn with her feelings for him because of the incidents they went through. At one point she despised him, but when it got down to it he was really just doing his job and she _knew_ for a fact that he didn't join the Akatsuki willingly. And when she really looked at all the facts on the board, he had saved her ass more than just once. It was almost infuriating to her how much hate she could have held for him back then that when he came within a close proximity to her face, it would feel like her heart was melting and she would want to rip his pants off and say, "Just take me!"

There was definitely something different about him. His charm and the way he would smile his crooked smile she'd seen few times was indescribable. His sarcasm and the way he would tease her, even though infuriating at times, was attractive in a way. He was a whole different kind of species, she realized. Deidara was different from any kind of man she'd ever met before. He was a genuine person.

Deidara's appearance at the moment seemed a little thinner and was most noticeable in the face. He seemed like he'd been damaged during the war going on. Not in a physical way, but you could see it in his eyes. They didn't have that same exact spark in them that she remembered. His under eye area held deep circles from lack of sleep.

She'd be a fool for thinking that he'd be the same exact person he was all those years ago, but Sakura didn't really think that she had changed that much over the years, and if she did then she didn't realize it herself.

But even if he'd changed over the years, big or small, she was still grateful to see a familiar face in the unfamiliar world she had been living in for the last couple of years. She was relieved that someone she knew before the war was still alive, even if he was one of the perpetrators. It was the connection that they held before the war that she was getting a high off of at the moment.

Though she wasn't sure if Deidara would even actually have any memories of Sakura. They shared brief, rash kisses, yeah. That didn't make her special in his book. She was sure that he'd slept with many women along the way to now. He was an attractive man, after all. The only reason he would probably remember her is through her killing Sasori nearly a decade ago.

Deidara stared at her, in a trance like state, as if he wasn't one-hundred percent sure that what he was seeing was real. They continued to stare at each other for a few more moments before Sakura reiterated his name.

Again, she called out, "Deidara?" She took a step forward and he realized that he wasn't seeing illusions.

He slowly picked himself up and looked up Sakura. She had definitely grown more feminine over the years, even with her slim, malnourished body. Her hair had grown a little longer than their last meeting and her breasts had filled out, though not by much. Her big green eyes still remained as naive and pure looking as ever, though he knew better. Her clothes were disheveled, though he was sure he was not much better by appearance.

Deidara couldn't believe that this girl out of everyone he knew dead was still alive. _Her_, of all people. The girl who would forget to hide her chakra in a town full of Akatsuki members. He didn't mean to downplay her, of course. He knew she held amazing abilities, but he didn't think she would survive this long. He hadn't seen her in what, four years? Maybe five? So he was a little shocked that she had survived that long by herself. He estimated that she was about twenty-two years of age, him being twenty-six.

"Sakura," he replied. He spoke as if he had forgotten how to breath.

They took slow steps toward each other and the closer they got the quicker they filled the gap. Their arms wrapped around each others thinned bodies in comfort and familiarity. They held each other in their arms for what seemed like forever and Sakura unknowingly had began to cry. She wasn't sure why because this man held no close meaning towards her heart other than just being a face she'd seen before, maybe a small juvenile crush in her earlier years.

Perhaps it was just the fact that it was the two of them there in that moment, sharing enormous amounts of emotions with out the need to speak. And in that moment they both discarded their alliances and forgot the world around them to enjoy the act of a simple hug, to enjoy the closeness of another human being, something that had become foreign to the both of them.

They took a break from the hug, hands on each others arm, to gaze into each others eyes. It was like they both were searching for an answer they didn't know the question to. The touch of another human being felt like something amazing to the both of them, it was comforting and made the both feel like no matter the situation, everything would be okay. It was a kind of euphoria.

Deidara wrapped a hand on her lower parietal and the other around the small of her back and leaned down for a kiss. It wasn't sexual, it wasn't pushing for something more. It was chaste, almost as if he was saying hello. The kiss held the expression of, "I'm so glad to see you."

Sakura didn't object one bit. She was relieved he remembered her and that she was sharing this moment with him. She felt the most comfortable, right at this moment, with him than she had in years with anyone since the war started.

In this moment she swore everything would be alright from now on.

* * *

___The sound of a kiss is much softer than that of a canon - but it's echo lasts a great deal longer._  
Unknown

**A/N:** Again, I apologize for the short update and long awaited chapter. I will be trying to write more frequently. Don't forget to type up a review to let me know your opinion of how my story is going or if you have any suggestions at all. I take into account everything you all take the time to write to me.

Anyway, I love you all and hope all is well.


	8. Proposition

**A/N: **Hello guys and gals! Thanks for keeping up with my lazy butt as this story went on hiatus for two years.

I've been reading over the previous chapters and am cringing at how horrible my grammar and just over all writing was, but I am still trying to keep the same tone of the story; same kind of writing style. I've taken a few English literature and structure courses since when I first published this story, but I feel it unnecessary to go back and fix the story when my main goal right now is to complete it, or at least get my plot set in stone. Especially since I know quite a few of you have been waiting for me to publish _something_ for a long time, and I am a people-pleaser. I hope you all are enjoying my story and enjoyed the last chapter with all that fluffy mess. Now time for the real stuff.

I hope I do not have that many errors as I am doing this all with out a beta.  
**_Enjoy._**

**Chapter Seven: Proposition **

* * *

As the kiss ended, Deidaras grip on Sakura began to loosen and his body started to become heavy. Sakura pulled away to look up at him, his eyes were closed and body went limp.

"Deidara?!" Sakura exclaimed.

She lay his body on the ground as quickly and gentle as she could. She repeated his name again. She hurriedly removed his Akatsuki cloak and held his back up with a knee while she peeled his standard black shirt off which was sticky with blood. His chest held a large gash that looked pretty fresh, maybe only a few hours old. She murmured cuss words as she assessed his injuries.

Her hands hovered over Deidara's wounds as her hands began to glow a cool green. They tingled as her chakra gauged his wounds.

"Fuck Deidara, what did you get yourself into..." She mumbled.

Deidara's wounds held poison in the infected area. As she assessed the rest of his body she found the poison made its way through his blood stream as well. He wasn't looking too good at the moment for surviving. Sakura gasped and broke from healing to check her medic bags for the herbs she got in Suna. If she remembered correctly, she'd gotten an herb that helped extract poisons.

Sakura quickly pulled out a dark blue herb with yellow streaks and began to rub it on his wound. Holding it in her hands above his wound, she added her chakra to it. Her brow creased, she was frustrated. At this rate, she'd be healing him for hours. She really wish she had the tools to withdraw the poison extracting chemical from the leaf so she could just inject it into his blood stream. This, unfortunately, was not the case.

Deidara made no noise except for maybe a groan or cough of blood. His body was hot with fever. Sakura kept up her treatment diligently and was going to until she couldn't any more.

As she was healing his wounds she was looking up and down his body. He had gotten thinner, but he definitely was toned. Not overly ripped but the kind of muscle to get any young women's nether regions hot. She suppose it made sense though, he was a ninja like herself and probably trained just as hard as she did. Deidara's hair was a little longer than from their last meet, but he probably didn't have time for a hair cut. Sakura wondered what the metal junk over his eye was for, she guessed it was for long range eye fighting, though she heard rumors it was to deflect the Uchiha's sharingan.

This was the longest she's used her medic healing for a good couple of years. It wasn't every day you get someone who'd been poisoned. She was glad she spent a long time studying poisons and solutions. She hadn't seen this kind of poison in her line of work before though.

Her body was starting to feel fatigued as Deidara began to stabilize. Dark clouds had found their way into the sky as she was healing him and thunder began to roar. Lighting lit the sky brightly. It was time to look for shelter. Sakura picked up Deidara's bloodied shirt and cloak and threw him over her back adding chakra to help her carry the extra dead weight. She looked around for a place to take refuge as it had already began to rain. Looking around, she saw a mountain just above the trees maybe a mile away. She began to sprint, or at least tried with the full grown man on her back. Her legs were burning with fatigue and screaming at her to stop, or at least take a break.

When she arrived Sakura looked up and around the mountainous area. She found a cave and inspected it before walking in. After deeming it safe, Sakura hurriedly walked in and set Deidara down. She checked his vitals and his wound as well. He was still in a critical state, but he was going on the right track now. She had gotten some of the poison out of his body, as much as she could before it started to pour down. Sakura sat down next to Deidara and started to work on him again, rubbing the blue and yellow leaf on his wound.

About an hour passed before she quit and wrapped up his wounds with the last of her gauze and medical tape. She decided to go find dry wood and food while the rain took a break. At any rate, Deidara would be able to flush out the rest of the poison naturally now. She was able to get the deadly amount out but he would probably need to rest for the next couple of days.

Finding dry wood was destined to be impossible after a storm like that. She figured she would find some wood and go ahead and put it in the cave to get it out of extra moisture until the sun comes out. After dropping off the wood, Sakura looked around the terrain for some food. Berries or something of the sort would be ideal. It took about a half an hour before Sakura was able to come up with a decent amount of berries to eat. She began to head back when she heard a roar in the direction she was going.

Sakura's heart quickened. She rushed to the cave as quickly as possible. Outside of the cave when she arrived was a large brown bear. Sakura had never seen a bear in person, only in books, which seemed almost silly for how many times she had camped out in the forest for missions. The bear was headed to the inside of the cave. Where Deidara was resting.

She panicked and sprinted as fast as she could to get to the bear before it got to Deidara. When she got near the bear it immediately turned and swung at Sakura. She screamed as her arm was cut open. She tried to ignore the pain as she got behind the bear, jumped on its back, and stabbed the bear in the back of the neck with a kunai. The bears body went limp and fell to the ground, and she with it.

She rolled as the bear fell and groaned in pain. She knew she didn't have enough chakra to heal herself after spending the majority of her day healing Deidara's poison wound. Slowly she got up to her feet and used the wall of the cave for leverage until she got next to Deidara. Using the last bit of her chakra, Sakura tried to heal the bear gash that was bleeding a good deal. She managed to slow down the bleeding, but she was beginning to get very heavy lidded. Ripping off a piece of her medic skirt, she used it to wrap around her left bicep and tightened it with her right hand and teeth. Sakura's was beginning to feel very cold, which she realized it was a very odd thing for it to rain in a month like November. The thought was a passing one as her head began to spin and he slid down the wall onto the ground, going into a very deep slumber.

* * *

Sakura awoke to a crackling sound. Her eyes slowly opened to see a blonde sitting, cozy, in front of the fire. She sat up quickly and looked around her. _How long have I been out?_ She wondered.

"Deidara, are you alright? How are you feeling? How is your wound doing? You shouldn't be up and moving so quickly, you've got to let your heal wound," she scolded him.

He just stared at her.

"You've been out for two days, yeah, you know that?"

Sakura's eyes widened. "Two days?!"

"Yeah. I think the more appropriate question would be to ask if you are okay," he motioned towards her arm.

Sakura looked at her arm and peeled off the dry cloth that scabbed to her arm through dried blood. She winced. _This is what happens when you don't change your bandage often enough. _She thought. She hoped it wasn't infected. Applying chakra through her hand, she began to heal her arm a little bit. The fatigue from the other day was still wearing on her.

Deidara watched her peel off the bandage and heal her wound. It peaked his curiosity a little bit, how concentrated she looked while healing. He looked back at the times they've encountered each other. He knew that she was the brat who killed his partner, along with the old hag Chiyo, though he didn't particularly see he whole fight himself as he'd been preoccupied. He knew that Sasori was a strong opponent, so for her to have been able to take him out at, he guessed, fifteen years of age was somewhat impressive. He remembered too that she was in Anbu, and that based on the one scuff they had several years ago, she was a close ranged fighter. _Opposites_, he thought. Deidara did also peg her for being a little reckless, or maybe just stupid, for the one time that she had come to an area crawling with Akatsuki and failed to remember to mask her chakra.

He didn't really know that she was a medic ninja. This was a skill he had not seen from her during their encounters. It made sense though. He knew that her chakra control must have been pretty on point because of her being able to smash anything into bits, or she could have been born with just a little too much testosterone. He chuckled a little inwardly at the thought. He knew nothing about healing. Whenever he got hurt, he would either just leave it alone and let it do it's thing or get someone from Akatsuki to heal it for him. He never paid attention though. Normally he was too busy trying to flirt with the female nurses they would bring by.

Sakura quit her healing and slowly got up and began to walk over to Deidara. She got on her knees next to him and said, "I'm going to need you to take your shirt off."

"I mean if that's the kind of girl you are," he held a smug look on his face,."You won't be hearing any complaints-" Deidara was cut off as Sakura whacked him in the head.

"No, idiot! I need to check your wound," She rolled her eyes, irritated.

Deidara chuckled at this. He could have some fun with her. A girl that was cute _and_ easy to make blush? He was fine with that. Though he knew that he might have to be careful or else his skull might be bashed in.

He complied with her request and took his shirt off. Sakura analyzed his wound and he analyzed her. Her face was serious as could be, her brow was creased as she removed his old bandage then used her chakra to heal him further.

"You should be fine," she diagnosed.

"Well I could have told you that," Deidara replied.

Sakura ignored his retort, "What kind of mess did you get yourself into to get poisoned so much?"

"Oh you know, yeah. Just the usual." She stared at his reply.

No, she didn't know, if she did she wouldn't have asked.

He got the feel of her stare and asked, "What's the matter miss?"

Sakura began to get the feeling that he was just going to be pissing her off a lot. Sakura regretted kissing him. She hadn't really understood why she had, but she knew it was wrong. He was an Akatsuki member, regardless of whether or not he chose to join. He's in an organization that's responsible for thousands, probably even hundreds of thousands of deaths. They tried to kill her best friend, Naruto. Their organization was wrong and corrupt. She couldn't be engaged in any kind of relationship that passed acquaintance with this man. Sakura wanted to find her way back home. She had decided when leaving Menso that she would try her best to find her way back to Konoha. She felt guilt for leaving her home in their time of need, regardless of whether or not it was a direct order. She was further west than she had ever planned on going. When she fled Menso she knew that Cambsure was far west. When thinking of Menso, Sakura's heart hurt. She wasn't able to save , , little Kaimu, Yasuko, and Aki. She hadn't thought much on the topic, as she planned to brush the thought off yet again.

Sakura ignored Deidara's teasing.

"I need you to help me get back home."

Deidara's teasing smile turned immediately serious.

"Now why would you want that..." He stared at her.

"I need to get back to my home, my friends."

"If there's even any of that left," Deidara looked away.

Sakura looked at him alarmed. Did he know something that she didn't?

"Deidara if you know anything about the condition of the Leaf Village, please tell me."

"Tch. I don't. I haven't exactly been participating in the war recently. I was sent off to get a scroll that apparently doesn't even exist, yeah. However, Sakura this war has been a bloody one. It's been somewhat even on both sides. Even Akatsuki have lost a few. Not that we couldn't replace them. Our alliance with other villages have been a good aid. You should be happy that you have had the privilege of not being involved."

Sakura felt sick to her stomach. This man was on the opposite side, he would probably rather have her dead.

"Do you know if-" Deidara interrupted her.

"I don't know if the brat is still alive, yeah." He paused, sighing. "Like I said, I haven't been apart of the war for maybe about last two years. I've been out on this unmarked asshole of a territory. I wouldn't be of much help to updating you on current events. Though if your friend was taken, then I'm sure the world would have ended by now. He's the key to the plan we've been trying to complete, other than that rapper guy from the lightning country, yeah, his name slips my mind."

In a way this made Sakura feel a little better. It gave her hope. A sickness was boiling in her stomach though, how Deidara talked about the 'plan' so simply, as if it didn't involve all the murders and devastation. She kept her cool.

"Do you know your way back though?" She questioned.

"All I know is go east, yeah."

"Well I knew that too." She sighed.

"I'm on my way back east anyway, and I suppose we could go along together, yeah. That is, if that's what you want. I'm sure two is better than one in a survival situation. Division of labor and all that junk I never paid attention to."

Sakura sat in thought for a while before responding. She would use him to get back home. Strictly. Nothing more, nothing less she decided.

"Alright," she announced, "We will travel together back east and when the time comes up we will go our separate ways." Sakura was sure she would have to kill him when they got back east, but she would postpone that thought for now.

"Alright. Don't fall in love with me on the way, yeah." Deidara winked at her, playfully joking.

She scoffed, nearly laughed, "I couldn't fall in love with you even if I tried."

"That hurts, deep. Real deep, yeah."

_This will definitely be a long travel back,_ Sakura thought.

* * *

_"Adventures are only interesting once you've lived to see the end of them. Before that, they are nothing but fear, and being too cold or too hot or too wet or too hungry, and getting hurt."_  
_Holly Lisle, The Silver Door_

**A/N:** I'm not sure if I like how I've put all of this dialog and events together, but you all let me know if you like it! A lot of this was just free flow thought, though it took me awhile to put it together. I would be out in public when I would get bursts of inspiration, but I couldn't really illustrate it through my words as well as I'd hoped to. Any way, I love you all, guys and gals. Hope you all are doing well. Let me know how you are liking the story progression. I've finally got Deidara as a permanent character, as I'm sure a few of you have been waiting for eagerly.

tah-tah


End file.
